Fewer people take busway amid ticketing confusion

Fewer people take busway amid ticketing confusion

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The busway service saw a decline in the number of passengers
during its work-day operation on Tuesday, in contrast with the
two-week free trial period.

The Rp 2,500 (30 U.S. cents) single-trip fare, effective Feb.
1, was definitely not an issue because on Sunday and Monday
passengers still enjoyed the Idul Adha holidays by crowding the
busway buses and shelters.

"There have been fewer passengers compared to previous days
but I think we still had quite a lot during the morning rush
hour," said a ticket officer at the Kota shelter in West Jakarta.

Most shelters along the 12.9-kilometer busway corridor were
seen empty throughout the day while the buses only carried an
average of between 40 and 50 passengers. Many passengers also
chose to ride the full length from Blok M in South Jakarta to
Kota or vice versa.

"The buses are quite empty now, though they are still quite
full upon entering and departing the terminals," said Ani, a
passenger who boarded the busway from the Raja Mas shelter near
Glodok Plaza, West Jakarta, referring to the Blok M and Kota
terminals.

During the free trial period, the busway buses carried more
than their capacity of 85 passengers each due to public
enthusiasm for the new facility modeled on a similar
transportation system used in Colombia.

Passengers were questioning the feeder bus ticketing system on
Tuesday.

Endang, a passenger on a Bianglala PAC45 Ciputat-Kota bus,
questioned what would happen if his regular bus was to stop
operating and he had to start using the busway and the feeder bus
service.

Endang, who usually takes a regular bus from a bus stop near
his house directly to his office on Jl. Gajah Mada for Rp 3,300,
said he would have to take another bus to Lebak Bulus bus
terminal -- adding to his transportation expenses -- as the Rp
2,900 to Rp 3,800 feeder bus tickets are only available there for
the time being.

"We can't buy the feeder bus tickets onboard the buses while
there are no feeder buses serving Ciputat yet."

The TransJakarta Busway management head Irzal Djamal said
earlier that the management had decided not to sell tickets
onboard the feeder buses, for fear that the crew would throw away
the tickets and show the stubs to claim their fare reimbursement.

Fortunately for Endang, the Bianglala buses were still serving
their route on Tuesday.

Though scarce, the PPD P1 and PAC-B1 buses that travel between
Blok M and Kota, were also still in operation in a parallel route
to the busway as they have not been officially rerouted yet, said
a PPD official.

The PPD PAC-01 Lebak Bulus-Kota buses will be rerouted to pass
through Slipi, Tomang and Jl. Suryo Pranoto, thus overlapping the
busway corridor only from Blok M to the Semanggi clover leaf and
from the parallel thoroughfares of Jl. Gajah Mada and Jl. Hayam
Wuruk to Kota.

Agung, a student living in Bekasi who boarded a busway bus
from the Bendungan Hilir shelter, said that it would now be seen
whether the busway could really compete with other bus companies
in providing public transportation service.

"The management must realize that most busway passengers are
attracted to the busway for its convenience and its speed, and it
should maintain these two most important factors. If not, don't
be surprised if the number of passengers drops off," he said.