Taufik Kiemas praises Busway, gives advises
Damar Harsanto and Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Legislator Taufik Kiemas of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and his entourage took a return trip on the Busway from the National Monument (Monas) to Blok M on Friday.
Taufik, husband of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, praised the busway as "a fine example of taxpayers' money well-spent on public facilities" but had some suggestions for Governor Sutiyoso.
"I hope the governor will add more buses and elevators at certain bus shelters, which only have stairs to enable people with disabilities to access the busway buses," he said, glancing at Sutiyoso standing besides him.
The governor quickly responded saying he had told Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo to speed up work on the busway, with a three- month deadline.
"The ideal number of buses is 140. I have told Fauzi to speed up the bus buy-up and the work on shelters, especially the construction of canopies for them," he told reporters.
There are a total of 56 buses but some of them are out of service because they are damaged.
Of the 21 shelters along the 12.9-kilometer busway corridor from Blok M to Kota, West Jakarta, only two have canopies -- on the median strip in front of the Jakarta Stock Exchange building and the Sarinah shopping center.
Taufik made his trip on the busway after attending Megawati's birthday party at the Jababeka industrial estate in Cikarang, Bekasi regency, which was attended by over 5,000 people. Among his entourage was Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara and the Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Agustadi Sasongko Purnomo.
Sutiyoso said the Busway ticketing system would be fully operational by Feb. 1. The city would charge a lower fare of Rp 1,500 (18 U.S. cents), from the regular Rp 2,500 ticket, for people traveling between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m, he said. The Busway is open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
"The lower price is proposed for the lower-income bracket and students so that they are not burdened by higher bus fares," Sutiyoso said.
TransJakarta Busway head Irzal Z. Djamal said management would directly appoint the company to run the ticketing system, rather than go through a tender process. The company would be named on Monday, he said.
"We'll simply choose one of four companies who have already submitted their proposals to us," he said. They are PT Mitra Usaha Harapan, PT Prawedi Cipta Karsa Informatika, PT Iloni Indonesia and PT Lestari Abadi.
Irzal said his company planned to expand the busway corridor from Pulogadung bus terminal in East Jakarta to the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Central Jakarta, passing through Jl. Salemba.
"We consider this route our next corridor because there are lots of passengers commuting through the route every day," he said.
However, the administration still had financial hurdles to overcome before it could realize this plan, he said. The Busway is eventually expected to have a total of 14 corridors throughout the city.