Private sector tapped for busway system

Private sector tapped for busway system

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration has invited private companies to take
part in procuring buses to be operated on the Bus Rapid Transit
(BRT), or busway system, scheduled to begin services later this
year from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in Central Jakarta.

The assistant to the city secretary for development affairs,
Irzal Djamal, said the city administration was only able to
purchase up to 60 buses, while 140 buses were needed to serve the
12.9-kilometer BRT corridor.

"We invite those who are interested in the business to procure
the buses, which are scheduled to begin operation in December,"
Irzal said on Saturday.

The Blok M-Kota corridor would be the first of a planned 15
BRT corridors in the city.

BRT systems are successfully operated in a number of major
cities around the world, where they have helped to resolve
various transportation problems.

Experts here, however, have expressed pessimism that the
busway project in Jakarta will be successful, saying that the
necessary preparations have not been made. They said, as an
example, that before the busway project in Bogota, Columbia, was
launched, an intensive campaign was undertaken to introduce the
system to the public.

The experts say such an intensive public information campaign
is needed here because nearly all Indonesians are unfamiliar with
the system. They say the next step would be to then hold a poll
to gauge public opinion of the proposed system.

The city administration has not yet decided whether such a
poll is needed before the busway system begins operating.

Irzal said a small team dealing with the financial aspects of
the system would also discuss the payment system for bus
operators taking part in the system.

Irzal, who chairs the busway project, said the subteam for
management and financial affairs was one of four subteams set up
to prepare for the system. The three other subteams are dealing
with infrastructure, operations and the impact of the system on
city traffic.

Meanwhile, the head of the City Transportation Agency, Rustam
Effendi, said that besides being invited to take part in
procuring buses for the BRT, private investors also were being
asked to manage the 60 buses that will be purchased by the
administration.

"They will be invited to provide drivers and maintain the
buses. Those bus operators whose routes will be affected by the
busway project will be given priority," Rustam said.

The city administration has said the busway system is part of
a comprehensive concept of the city's transportation system,
which was designed by the administration's consultant on
transportation issues, Sutanto Hoesodo of the University of
Indonesia. The transportation system is expected to be fully
developed by 2010.

According to officials, busway and railway systems will form
the backbone of the city's transportation system in the future.

"This recently revealed concept will become the main reference
point in developing the city's transportation system," Rustam
said.