Passengers prefer old, regular buses to the busway

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In the two weeks of full operation, the busway has seen an increase in passengers each day, but their total number is only a third of the 60,000 commuters that previously traveled between Blok M in South Jakarta and Kota in West Jakarta on the regular buses.

Data obtained from Blok M terminal and Kota shelter on Thursday showed that only an average of 9,500 and 6,000 passengers took the busway each day from the respective destination points.

In addition, an average of 1,000 passengers took the busway from one of the 18 shelters the two terminals.

Before the introduction of the busway, it is estimated that 60,000 passengers used the route every day.

They were previously served by the regular buses which are no longer allowed to traverse the Blok M to Kota route. Only certain buses whose routes overlap only part of the 12.9-kilometer busway route are still allowed to use the lane parallel to the busway lane.

It is still uncertain whether the remaining passengers are using these regular buses as an alternative to the busway.

But several passengers in Blok M said that they used the busway if they wanted to go a long distance but preferred the regular buses if the distance was short.

"I work on Jl. Sudirman so it is better for me to take a minibus from Blok M such as a Kopaja because if I use the busway I have to walk half a kilometer from the shelter to my work place," said Santy, a bank employee.

Currently there are 56 buses in operation every day on the busway route. The management PT Jakarta Express Trans said that they would add another 40 buses by the end of this year, despite the low interest of passengers.

Another lack of foresight of the management was also seen in the high concentration of passengers that occurs between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The management had earlier predicted a massive number of passengers between 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., while offering a special price of Rp 1,500 (18 US cents) for early riders.

After 7 a.m., the passengers are charged Rp 2,500.

Meanwhile, a bus stalled at the Harmony shelter, forcing the driver to move the passengers to another bus. Luckily, the bus was repaired quickly before a long line of buses queued behind the stalled bus.