'Orange team' to replace rude busway guards

'Orange team' to replace rude busway guards

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As complaints over indisciplined security officers on Jakarta's
sole busway continue to increase, busway operator BP TransJakarta
says it will replace the current officers with "more friendly,
trained officers".

"Starting June 1, we will deploy around 200 new security
officers aboard our buses. They have been specially trained to
serve passengers quickly and efficiently in a more friendly way,"
TransJakarta head Irzal Z Djamal said on Wednesday.

Twenty of them were women, he added, which complemented the
management's earlier decision to employ women as bus drivers.

The new officers, who will sport orange uniforms, are now
receiving public service, physical and traffic regulation
training in Lido, Sukabumi, West Java, and at TransJakarta's
headquarters in Pinang Ranti, East Jakarta.

Irzal said that the new officers would replace the current 250
officers from the Jakarta Public Order Agency deployed by the
city administration to stand guard on board the buses.

"We have received complaints over indisciplined security
officers, including some who were found smoking in the busway
stops," he admitted.

According to Irzal, Jakarta Public Order Agency officers would
continue to provide security at busway stops and bridges.

He added that the operator was also looking into the
possibility of operating articulated buses in order to boost
capacity in response to the appraisal made by a New York-based
non-governmental organization, the Institute for Transportation
and Development Policy (ITDP).

"We tested an articulated bus belonging to state-run bus
company DAMRI on the Blok M-Kota busway corridor and found it
feasible ... the bus could take the corners smoothly even at the
narrow turning point in Kota," he said.

Articulated buses would be able to accommodate up to 200
passengers per bus, compared to the current 80 passengers per
bus.

ITDP, which also provides technical assistance to the
TransMilenio busway project in Bogota, Columbia, on which Jakarta
based its busway project, recommended the use of articulated
buses to increase the capacity of the busway to 9,600 passengers
per hour per direction, compared to the current 2,700 passengers
per hour per direction.

The ITDP has also recommended that the administration install
additional doors in the buses and shelters to facilitate
alighting and disembarking passengers, and thereby shorten
stopping times.

According to the ITDP, the installation of additional doors in
the buses and shelters would significantly shorten the current
stopping time of 45 seconds to only 22 seconds.

Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo said that the administration would
seriously consider the advice it received from the ITDP and
promised technical adjustments to planned new busway projects.

The administration is currently constructing new busway routes
connecting Pulogadung in East Jakarta to Harmoni in Central
Jakarta, and Harmoni to Kalideres in West Jakarta. The new routes
are due to come into operation in December.