Study to focus on night transportation

JAKARTA (JP): The City Traffic and Land Transportation Control Agency (DLLAJ), in cooperation with various transportation companies, will research night transportation in an effort to restructure nightly bussing operations.

The chief of the Department of Public Transportation Operations, Juhdi, told reporters yesterday that research has been prompted due to the fact that night routes served by several firms at present are not profitable.

"We are hoping that the research will show which routes are in need of night service because up to now, the transportation companies assigned by the city administration to provide such services are not operating effectively," Juhdi said.

He said that most of these companies are only operating three vehicles per route every night.

He explained that the research will be done by counting passengers in bus shelters and terminals from Dec. 12 to 17. DLLAJ plans to train data collectors from bus companies such as city-owned bus company PPD, Mayasari Bakti and Bianglala on Dec. 5.

"The research is aimed at finding the exact routes and number of people who require night transportation services. Then the office will decide the number of vehicles to be operated," Juhdi said.

The city administration began providing transportation for people who work the night-shift in hopes of controlling the unauthorized 12-seat minivans with blackened license plates, which dominate night transport services and are prohibited as public transit vehicles.

Unfortunately, according to the latest evaluation conducted by DLLAJ, many transportation companies are reluctant to run their fleets at night because they cannot cover their operation costs.

Juhdi explained that his office has issued permits for night buses on 57 routes and official minivans on 12 routes. By comparison, the office has issued permits for 359 routes serving day passengers.

He said that at night PPD operates 15 routes, Mayasari Bakti 18 routes, Bianglala one, Anion two, Himpurna three, Metro Mini 11, Kopaja six and Kopami one.

The data provided by the office shows that from the 57 existing routes only 18 are fully served. Sixteen of the 18 routes are served by the private-owned bus company Mayasari Bakti and the remainder by PPD.

"All companies have been ordered to operate regularly on their routes beginning Dec. 5 as preparation of the research," Juhdi added. (yns)