Feeder service not ready: Busway

Feeder service not ready: Busway

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The TransJakarta busway management and PT Jakarta Express Trans
(JET) promised to improve the busway service after three months
of operation since Jan. 15, in reaction to complaints expressed
by passengers and observers, particularly those using the feeder
system.

A spokesman for the management, Ajar Aedi, told The Jakarta
Post that the company faced difficulties in improving the feeder
system as the feeder bus operators had not received sufficient
training.

"Currently, many conductors of feeder buses do not want to
accept feeder tickets, they ask passengers who have already
purchased tickets for money," he said.

Ajar expected that in the next six months, the feeder service
would improve considering that by that time, bus conductors would
have familiarized themselves with the system.

Currently only a few hundred passengers use the feeder system
on a daily basis. The current figure of around 62,000 busway
passengers daily is far from expectations, particularly
considering 383 feeder buses ply 24 routes between Blok M in
South Jakarta and Kota in West Jakarta.

As for the manual ticketing system, Ajar said, so far, it was
only available for passengers boarding buses in Kota or at the
Blok M shelter, to avoid long queues during peak hours.

"We plan to install four new ticketing machines at both
shelters so we don't have to use the manual system anymore," he
said.

The TransJakarta management has been conducting a passenger
survey since April 12.

The survey will be used to determine the arrival times of
buses and to make an arrival schedule, which observers say should
have been available to passengers three months ago.

Ajar said those making the schedule would need to take into
account important factors, such as the 3-minute change of traffic
lights and traffic jams.

He expected that although thoroughness was essential in the
scheduling process, the timetable would be completed soon.

The Jakarta administration spent Rp 120.7 billion last year
procuring 56 buses and building lane dividers, bus shelters and
pedestrian overpasses for the busway.

This year, the administration has allocated Rp 120 billion for
another 44 buses, canopies for the pedestrian bridges and an
underpass in Kota.

Out of 130 busway drivers initially employed by PT JET, 30
have been dismissed due to bad conduct.

Many drivers complained that they would rather work for their
old employers due to the management's inconsistencies.

"The company (JET) said that after the three-month probation
period we would be entitled to a pay rise, but so far there has
been no sign of it," a driver who declined to be named said.

However, PT JET finance director Ibnu Susanto, told the Post
that the company would not add buses before the other busway
corridors planned for this year were operational.

"We will not recruit more drivers due to the tight budget, nor
increase their salaries... but we will try to provide facilities
for employees," he said.