Adisti Sukma Sawitri and Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
It has been a roller-coaster year for the administration, campaigning for its Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.
After gaining various awards and praise for the public transit solution last year, the administration faced public criticism, in the fourth quarter of 2007, over its handling of the busway network expansion, with more main thoroughfares becoming obstructed.
Amid Jakarta's chronic traffic congestion, motorists found a new scapegoat for the problem: the busway and its exclusive lanes.
The resistance became so loud that the administration has decided to stop construction on the network next year.
"Motorists get really angry because they feel they have been forced into sacrificing their roads for a system which does not work, but the busway is still the most modern form of transit available for (Jakarta) passengers," said Rudy Thehamihardja, a transport surveillance officer from the Heritage Foundation (a non-profit organization overseeing transportation development).
The busway network is one of four modes of transport planned under the administration's Macro Transportation Framework.
Established in 2004, the busway was intended to provide an alternative mode of transport for Jakarta citizens. The administration predicted that without significantly increasing its roads, Jakarta would become gridlocked by 2014.
Since other means of public transport including a monorail, subway and water vessels were considered either more expensive or unfeasible, the administration has invested more than Rp 1 trillion on expanding the busway network over the last five years.
Since the construction of the first busway corridor (joining Blok M and Kota) began in 2002 the administration has targeted to complete 15 corridors by 2010.
With rapid network expansion -- four new corridors last year and three this year -- the administration and its busway management company, Transjakarta, have paid less attention to detail in the quality of service provided.
Among other basic necessities which have slipped past the planning board, the administration and the Transjakarta busway management company failed to furnish bus companies in the network with clear contracts to ensure standards were met and maintained.
PT Jakarta Ekspress Trans (operating corridor 1, Blok M-Kota) and PT Trans Batavia operating (corridors 2 and 3) have both been given contracts but without clear arrangements for rewards or penalties.
Unlike the system the Jakarta busway is based on, in Bogota, Colombia, Transjakarta has yet to implement a minimum daily kilometer (payment) arrangement for its bus companies. The present payment structure is fixed only when a fuel price increase occurs.
Jakarta busway operators are paid based on the total number of kilometers traveled, regardless of the time buses spend stuck in traffic jams at intersections (often because other vehicles have been allowed to use the exclusive lanes).
"We experienced a price hike on spare parts last year but have yet to receive a payment adjustment for this," PT Jakarta Ekspress Trans personnel and finance director Ibnu Susanto said.
The contracts also do not mention rewards or punishments for bus companies not adhering to minimum service standards.
Companies operating corridors 4 to 7, PT Jakarta Mega Trans and PT Jakarta Trans Metropolitan, do not have permanent contracts yet despite operating for one year.
"We've conducted our service based on a letter from the administration," PT Jakarta Mega Trans (operating corridors 5 and 7) operational director Gani Kamaludin said.
The letter simply states Transjakarta would pay some Rp 12,885 per operational kilometer, without elaborating on how this figure was met.
PT Jakarta Trans Metropolitan (serving corridors 4 and 6) operational director I Gde Bagus Oka, said his company did not benefit under present conditions. He said it had faced growing inefficiency with increased traffic jams since the opening of the exclusive lanes, and long waiting times at CNG filling stations.
"We understand the administration wanted to build the network as quickly as possible, but in the long run of course we are looking for a more secure arrangement," he said.
The administration only built two CNG stations on Jl. Daan Mogot in West Jakarta and Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan in East Jakarta. These are supposed to serve 238 gas-fueled buses in corridors 2 to 7, meaning buses spend up to two hours just to refuel.
Buses needing to refuel during the day have resulted in waiting times well beyond the targeted maximum 10 minutes.
Various studies showed passenger waiting times were anywhere between 5 and 60 minutes at busway shelters.
Transjakarta head Dradjad Adhyaksa attributed the poor service record to a "limited" budget and "high" overhead.
Transjakarta needed to cut its operating costs by reducing busway services outside peak hours, Dradjad said.
"I will not say we work inefficiently or ineffectively. This is the best service we can provide on such a limited budget," he said.
Transjakarta gets its revenue from ticket sales and government subsidies. Last year some 25 percent of the company's Rp 174.52 billion operating cost came from subsidies.
The four new corridors that opened this year, however, increased Transjakarta's dependency on government funding. Approximately 54 percent of its estimated Rp 433 billion running cost came from the city budget. Dradjad said Transjakarta would spend 72 percent of its operating costs on bus companies alone.
The poor service and failure to produce conducive contracts were largely beyond Transjakarta's control, Dradjad said.
"We have service standards for operators ... but we cannot enforce them because there are too many conditions beyond our control," he said.
Dradjad said Transjakarta did not have any power in the decision making process, for example, in the current mixed traffic arrangement or the limited number of gas refilling stations.
He said the poor service was due to tardy procurement of extra buses by two companies within the network; Jakarta Mega Trans and Jakarta Trans Metropolitan.
Transjakarta opened corridors 4 to 7 in January 2007, with only eight buses operational. A contract between Transjakarta and the corridor's two bus companies stated that the latter would provide 129 buses by January. Because of the shortfall, buses from other corridors were sent to the four new corridors.
Dradjad declined to say why Transjakarta had insisted on opening the corridors.
"We just try and do what we are told. It is not in my capacity to say whether the services were premature or not," Dradjad said.
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