Administration, busway 'violated agreement'

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Trans Batavia, one of the companies in a consortium that supplies buses for the Jakarta busway, complained Wednesday over the commitment of the city administration and the busway managing company, Jakarta Express Trans.

Trans Batavia president director, Azis Rismaya Mahfud, said the company had provided buses as the administration requested but Jakarta Express Trans was operating only a few of them.

"As a result, passengers have to wait in line too long for buses and commuter lines aren't easing," he told reporters in a conference.

Trans Batavia provides the busway buses, while Jakarta Express Trans manages the daily operations of the busway.

Trans Batavia had provided a total of 126 buses as of April for lines II and III, which respectively connect Harmoni, in Central Jakarta to Pulo Gadung, in East Jakarta, and Kalideres, in West Jakarta to Harmoni.

Jakarta Express Trans were meant to allocate 55 buses to line II and 71 buses to line III, but it currently operates only 42 buses in each line, said Trans Batavia operational director Jabes Sihombing.

"Jakarta Express Trans instead has allocated 13 of our buses to line IV and 15 to line VII, to compensate for bus shortages in those lines," Jabes said. "This violates an agreement we made."

According to Jabes, each Trans Batavia bus travels a distance of 165 kilometers per day, but the contract between the administration and Jakarta Express Trans stipulates each Trans Batavia bus must travel at least 290-300 kilometers daily.

"As a result, we suffer losses of around 40-45 percent."

Line IV connects Pulo Gadung to Dukuh Atas, in Central Jakarta and line VII links East Jakarta's Kampung Rambutan to Kampung Melayu.

Azis said Jakarta Express Trans had been operating their buses to overload capacity, despite the fact it had a sufficient number of buses.

Based on the manufacturer's recommendations, each bus should carry a maximum of 85 passengers, he said. Both the administration and Jakarta Express Trans had agreed each bus would have a 60-passenger maximum.

"But in fact, almost every bus carries around 100 to 125 passengers. In addition to long passenger lines, this in turn has also caused damage to the buses."

Jabes blamed both the administration and Jakarta Express Trans for citing budget limitations as excuses for not operating buses as required under the contract.

"Jakarta Express Trans have also delayed their payments since February, not only to Trans Batavia, but also to the other bus suppliers -- Jakarta Trans Metropolitan and Jakarta Mega Trans," he said.

"The administration could have used an emergency fund to pay us, but it chose not to."

Jabes said delayed payments caused Jakarta Trans Metropolitan and Jakarta Mega Trans to pay their employees half of their monthly wages.

"Petross, our gas supplier, stopped supplying us with fuel on June 21-22 due to delayed payments."

Jakarta Express Trans daily operational head, Anton, said it never delayed payments to any bus company and refused further comments.

City secretary, Ritola Tasmaya, also refused to comment when contacted by The Jakarta Post, saying Governor Sutiyoso would reveal any progress next week.