Standing 59 Zhongtong Buses In The Aftermath Of Screening Vulgar Ads

Photo illustration (Diah Ayu Wardhany / VOI)

JAKARTA - PT Transportation Jakarta ground all TransJakarta buses with the Zhongtong brand, totaling 59 units. This is in the aftermath of the display of graphic videos on electronic billboards on the three Zhongtong brand buses which started operating in October.

President Director of PT TransJakarta Agung Wicaksono said that the inspection was carried out to find out the root of the problem. "The point is we are stopping operations so we can check everything, we will investigate why it happened," said Agung when met at City Hall, Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta, Thursday, November 14.

At first, this case went viral on social media. A video shows the appearance of indecent advertisements on TransJakarta buses. The video caption states that the video was taken on 9 November 2019 at 19.00 WIB in corridor 1.

One of the Twitter accounts, @itsfianseptian uploaded a recording from his cellphone. The footage shows one of the TransJakarta buses with serial number PPD-0732 playing a video advertisement exposing the vulgar parts of a woman's body.

“This screen has several times displayed advertisements from adtopic which are quite vulgar for 18 years and over. It seems like we need to check the video shown (bus PPD-0732), ”he wrote.

TransJakarta admitted that they had missed and apologized for the broadcast of the vulgar advertisement. According to Agung's explanation, the viewing of vulgar videos on the Zhongtong bus is managed by the Djakarta Passenger Transport Corporation (PPD) as one of the TransJakarta operators.

Agung said, TransJakarta does not only operate its own buses. There are buses run by operators who are paid and must meet standards. If it does not meet the standards, of course there will be sanctions.

"One, if it says [the video] is an advertisement, it can't be an advertisement. Ads must be one door through TJ, the contract is clear, there is no operator [showing] the ad itself. Second, the content must be checked. It must be approved," explained Agung. .

"The third, he said, is not an advertisement. This is a video clip used to check the monitor screen. Well, this is also clearly wrong because the procedure [the monitor screen] cannot be left and played by the driver," he added.

So, because PPD did not meet the eligibility standards on the Zhongtong bus, they had to accept sanctions, namely operational termination.

"We are currently stopping operations for inspection. They are paid by us based on kilometers. So, once we stop operations, yes (the impact is) losses," he said.