Legendary double-decker at end of the road

Legendary double-decker at end of the road

Kartika Bagus C., The Jakarta Post, Surakarta, Central Java

It's a sweltering afternoon at a bus stop in front of the
Surakarta post office, and a number of people are impatiently
waiting for their bus. But few buses have turned up, leaving the
passengers to swelter in the heat.

Among the waiting passengers was an elderly woman. Her clothes
indicated that she was not from town. She wore traditional
Javanese clothes, with a piece of rumpled jarik cloth where she
kept her possessions strapped across her shoulders.

The traffic was busy and noisy. Sun rays pierced through the
holes on the roof of the bus stop. Yet the woman did not budge,
although dozens of minivans and buses passed by and offered to
take her to her destination.

After an hour, there was still no sign she would leave. She
was definitely waiting for something, oblivious to the other
passengers getting on and off their buses.

Suddenly, someone patted her on the shoulder. "Who are you
waiting for, ma'am?" asked a bus company employee.

The elderly woman said she was waiting for a double-decker,
adding that she had not taken the bus for quite some time.

This woman is not the only fan of the double-deck buses
operated by state bus company Damri. These buses used to ply most
of Surakarta's main roads, from Kartosuro in the west to Palur in
the east.

The buses used to take passengers around the city, passing
places like Swiwedari Park, Radya Pustaka Museum, Surakarta
Palace and the former city hall, as well as Pasar Gede and Pasar
Klewer -- the city's busiest markets. And you only had to pay Rp
1,000 per ride.

However, these double-deckers are rarely seen on the city's
main roads anymore. Many of the buses can no longer be operated
because spare parts for these 1960 Volvo buses are too hard to
find. Even if spare parts are available, they are usually too
expensive for the company to afford.

The head of the city bus unit at Damri Surakarta, Joko
Hargono, said there used to be 30 double-deckers operating in the
city, but now only two of the buses were roadworthy.

A big reason for this is that prices have soared since the
economic crisis hit the country in 1997.

"Spare parts for the double-deck buses are very expensive now.
We cannot afford to replace the old parts with new ones," Joko
said.

And the Rp 1,000 fares paid by passengers are far from enough
to cover the daily maintenance and operating costs of the buses,
he said.

The bus, for example, uses a liter of gas to go two to 2.5
kilometers, and to cover the route from Palur to Kartosuro it
takes more than 10 liters.

As for oil, a drum cost Rp 500,000 when the fares were Rp 500.
Now the fares are Rp 1,000 but a drum of oil costs Rp 2.1
million. So you see, the fare increases have not kept up with
price increases, said Joko, who manages some 250 Damri employees.

"It is easy to imagine that if we increased fares by 100
percent, prices in the operational sector would go up by 300
percent. We do not know how to cover the gap," he said.

The only option, he said, was to sell the non-roadworthy
double-deckers, which were donated by the government to the city
when president Soeharto was still in charge. That's why only two
of the buses are still in operation.

"Even these two are operated very selectively, for example
when they are hired by schoolchildren for a tour of the city or
when there are big events at the Surakarta Palace. On ordinary
days, they remain in the yard," he said.

There was a time when double-deck buses roamed the busy
streets of Jakarta, Medan and Semarang. But according to Hargono,
Surakarta is the only city that still has such buses.

"Now Surakarta is the only city which has double-deckers, but
the remaining two will disappear soon. It would be a pity if the
buses disappeared from Surakarta's streets, since they have
become, in a way, legends .... But what can we say, that's the
reality."