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."