Many Of The Buses Are Not Operational, Transjakarta Has Reasons For The Impact Of The COVID-19 Pandemic

Illustration of Transjakarta bus fleet. (Antarananews)

JAKARTA - A photo circulating of dozens of Transjakarta buses in the Pinang Ranti bus pool, South Jakarta (Jaksel) is not operational. This raises the question of why many Transjakarta fleets are not operating.

Responding to this, the Head of the Transjakarta Corporate Secretary, Anang Rizkani Noor admitted that the reduction in Transjakarta bus operations was due to restrictions on mobility since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"When the number of viral infections due to the COVID-19 pandemic is high, many Transjakarta bus routes have been reduced to inhibit transmission in 2020-2022," said Anang in his statement, Thursday, December 15.

Most Transjakarta routes have started to open and buses are operated. However, due to limited operational limitations and constraints, there are still bus routes that are still closed, thus having an impact on the presence of several buses that are not fully operational.

"Transjakarta regulates that the fleet continues to run alternately, so that around 70 percent operate, the rest operate alternately, including for maintenance," said Anang.

To date, Transjakarta has been operating on 216 routes. Where there are 39 routes that experience reactivation and opening of new routes reaching 16.

"Transjakarta optimizes the operation of bus fleets that meet the needs of routes and passengers," he added.

Previously, photos describing dozens of Transjakarta buses were not operating in the spotlight. From the information circulating, the bus is branded Scania and Mercedes Benz which were purchased in 2018.

This condition was criticized by a member of the PSI faction of the DKI Jakarta DPRD, Eneng Maliyanasari. Eneng views that public needs for public transportation are disrupted.

"People are also disadvantaged because they have to wait a long time and jostle during peak hours because the number of buses is still lacking. Transjakarta and the Transportation Service need to explain this to the public," said Eneng.

Eneng then asked the DKI Jakarta Transportation Agency to evaluate Transjakarta management. In addition, this condition should be an important indicator for the Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono to evaluate public transportation services in Jakarta.

"The governor can deploy the Inspectorate to conduct investigations, so we know what really happened, and whether there is a state loss or not," he said.