[sustran] Jakarta busway opens new corridors

[John Ernst]

January 15 -- 2-years after the Jakarta busway began -- saw the 
opening of 2 additional corridors, more than tripling the size of the busway.

Despite the limited capacity of the current design, the busway has 
enjoyed increasing public support.  The main transfer station between 
the corridors is still under construction, so this support may be 
tested over the next few months!

Two articles from the Jakarta Post covered this.  Neither are very 
long, so I'll post them in their entirety here --

New busway routes up and running
Jakarta Post - 16 January 2006
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060116.@04&irec=3

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso did the honors on Sunday at City Hall on 
Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta, sounding a siren to 
launch the opening of two more busway corridors in the capital.

With the success of the first Blok M-Kota corridor, launched two 
years ago amid widespread criticism that it was unsuitable for 
Jakarta, the governor as well as members of the public, the business 
community and the once skeptical media had good reason to feel 
confident as the new blue-and-white additions went into service at 
Pulogadung terminal.

Sutiyoso told the gathering that an estimated 40 million people had 
used the busway service since it began operations, with an average of 
1.7 million passengers in the past two months.

"According to a survey by JICA and the administration, 14 percent of 
a total of about 4.8 million private car owners have switched to the 
busway," he said, referring to the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

"With the two new corridors, we hope more and more Jakartans will 
leave their cars at home and take the busway instead."

The first additional corridor, covering 14.3 kilometers, begins in 
Pulogadung bus station in East Jakarta and ends at Harmoni in Central 
Jakarta. The second new one, spanning a distance of 18.7 kilometers, 
stretches from Harmoni to Kalideres bus station in West Jakarta.

A ride from Pulogadung to Harmoni takes about 30 minutes while 
passengers need only 45 minutes to arrive at Kalideres from Harmoni.

For a fare of Rp 3,500 (37 U.S. cents), passengers are entitled to 
switch between the corridors on the line until they reach their final 
destination.

"I will try to use the busway to go to the office. If it is like the 
first one, then I will definitely take the busway and sell my car," 
said Fadli Chandra, a resident of Pulogadung who works for a private 
bank in Kota, West Jakarta. --JP

---


Big hopes ride on new busway routes

Tantri Yuliandini, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta  16 January 2006
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20060116.B09&irec=8


It was launched to the pride of the city governor but not everyone 
was convinced.

They said the busway was a half-baked idea that ought to have stayed 
in Bogota, Colombia, the system's birthplace.

Two years have passed, the scorn and suspicion have died down and the 
red-orange buses have become part of urban life, the chosen ones in 
peak hours.

In fact, the two new corridors -- which will link Pulogadung in East 
Jakarta with Harmoni in Central Jakarta, and Harmoni with Kalideres 
in West Jakarta -- were launched on Sunday to great expectations.

"The new busway corridors are not coming up against the same kind of 
resistance experienced with the first corridor. In fact, people have 
been wishing the projects would wrap up much faster," transportation 
expert Darmaningtyas told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

The director of the Institute for Transportation and Development 
Policy Indonesia (ITDP) said people who usually traveled the heavily 
congested Kalideres-Pulogadung route were particularly looking 
forward to using the busway as it would slash their travel time from 
three hours in regular transportation to 80 minutes or less.

Time efficiency was the main reason people gave for going on the 
busway -- whose ridership increased by 30 percent to 20.8 million 
passengers in 2005 from 16 million passengers in 2004 -- followed by 
comfort and safety.

"The busway's strength lies in its reliability and safety, though 
some people say Patas-ac (air-conditioned, limited-seat) buses are 
still more comfortable," Darmaningtyas, who is also the director of 
the Transportation Study Institute (Instran), said.

Time efficiency, comfort and safety are also the reasons why many 
executives, non-nationals and both foreign and domestic tourists 
choose to ride the busway.

"It seems the busway has opened up Jakarta to many more people. It's 
not unusual to see expatriates riding the busway, because it is 
comfortable and safe, on the other hand only a crazy bule (foreigner) 
would go on a Metromini," a busway passenger said.

Furthermore, a joint study conducted by Instran and ITDP in December 
on 300 private vehicle owners showed a high percentage of people -- 
about 80.2 percent -- were willing to switch to the busway.

The main stumbling block for most people, according to Darmaningtyas, 
was the feeder buses.

Of the 300 owners surveyed by the non-governmental organizations, 
44.8 percent said they were willing to leave their cars at home if 
busway serviced their area, but 49.4 percent considered the 
TransJakarta Busway impractical.

"Their main concern is the feeder buses are not as efficient, 
comfortable, or as safe as the TransJakarta Busway," Darmaningtyas said.

In the meantime, the option of parking their cars near a busway 
station was an expensive option and not always feasible, he said.

If the city administration can provide integrated feeder buses, and 
safe and affordable parking spaces near the busway stops, 
Darmaningtyas said the busway would have more passengers.

"As it is, the integrated ticketing system for both feeder buses and 
the busway does not work properly. In my experience, after buying the 
higher-priced tickets, conductors on the feeder buses still demand a 
fare because they do not recognize the integrated ticket," he said.

The biggest turn-off, Darmaningtyas said, was the government's 
inconsistent transportation policies, with the construction of eight 
new toll roads planned for this year.

"Several of the toll roads cross busway routes, such as the planned 
Rawa Buaya (West Jakarta)-Pulogebang (East Jakarta) toll road. 
Naturally, this only encourages people to use their own private 
vehicles, rather then switch to the busway," he said.

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John Ernst   -  Director, Asia Region
ITDP - The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy
    127 W 26th St.  Suite 1002, New York, NY 10001
    Tel +1 (212) 629-8001   Direct Tel +1 (719) 635-8856  Direct Fax 
+1 (801) 365-5914

Promoting environmentally sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide
  Visit http://www.itdp.org
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