Transjakarta pledged to work toward improving their service in response to passengers’ criticisms on the deteriorating quality of the busway system.

Coordinating with NGO Indonesian Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), the busway operator held a press conference Thursday to coincide with its fifth year of service.

Transjakarta’s head of Administration Department, Anton Parura, said there were many improvement plans for the future.

“Hopefully, we can finally open three new corridors — Corridor 8 to 10 — by early February at the latest,” Anton said.

At least 50 buses will be deployed for Corridor 8, which will serve the Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta-Harmoni in Central Jakarta route, he said.

Transjakarta has considered using a camera on each bus to monitor service on board, he said.

“At the shelters, we can use fiber-optic lines to connect the cameras to our central monitoring server, but it is a bit harder to set up a real-time camera system on board mobile buses.”

Head of Transjakarta Public Service Body D.A. Rini said that over the past five years, the company had managed to continuously improve on their targets and achievements.

“We have managed to cover over 50 percent of our operating expenses and sell more tickets each year.

“Despite the fact that 2008 has been satisfactory performance-wise, we still have a lot to do. We need to continue working on our performance and service,” Rini said.

Some members of the public believe it is too early for Transjakarta to call their performance “satisfactory”.

Transportation NGO INSTRAN criticized the busway operator for failing to provide the passengers with better services after five years of operation, particularly concerning interconnectivity and comfort.

During a press conference Thursday, INSTRAN highlighted the long and inconsistent waiting period, leaving passengers stranded at shelters which quickly become overcrowded.

“According to our survey, most passengers complain about discomfort. Some of them have to wait for an hour for the bus and feel uncomfortable in the overcrowded buses and shelters,” INSTRAN director Darmaningtyas said.

Therefore, he said the busway operator should add more buses, as well as develop an integrated feeder service to serve more passengers.

“The operator can also build bicycle and pedestrian lanes connecting each shelter.”

The group also pointed out the operator’s failure to achieve the targeted number of passengers. The initial target was set at 5 million passengers per day via 14 planned corridors by 2010, but it has only managed to attract 230,000 passengers per day on seven corridors.

INSTRAN said the group had calculated that for the busway system to continue operating, Transjakarta needs more than a Rp 500 billion subsidy. Darmaningtyas said the city receives Rp 5 trillion each year in revenue from vehicle taxes.

He said this tax revenue should be used as a subsidy for the busway system. (hdt)

Waiting Time   Targets   Reality
Less than 5 minutes   27.26%  9.72%
5-15 minutes   44.97%  36.21%
15-20 minutes   14.15%  22.55%

Year   Number of Passengers
2004   14,924,423
2005   20,798,196
2006   38,828,039
2007   61,439,961
2008   74,619,995

2004-2009 Infrastructure Report
Total corridors :    7
Total length :    97.35 kms
Total bus :    426
(23 articulated, 403 single)

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Transjakarta Satisfied with Work, NGO Says Hold On