I still remember the good old days of our civil disobedience. That time, the provincial government insisted that a new corridor for TransJakarta (TJ) will pass the whole length of Metro Pondok Indah, the main thoroughfare in and through the area. The plan included more road space to acommodate the special a-bit-raised bus lane, which would eat up the green belt lined with palm trees. Refusing to let the poorly-managed system ravage the neighborhood, irked citizens launched a series of protests. One event to highlight was when some residents blocked the special lane construction by placing their cars in front of the heavy machineries. Some spats and negotiations later, the then-new vice governor Priyanto agreed to not make the TJ lane special and thus, raise the whole road altogether. The palms, they get to stand up tall till the end of time, untouched by the government’s pet project. (Some of them was still cut, but promptly replaced as a part of the agreement).
On a side note, it was a pivotal point in my life. Perhaps, that was the first time an absurd government policy really hit close to home. During the “warfare”, we had terrible traffic jams, negative opinions from the so-called “general public”, and so much more. In fact, this event nucleated my first blog which then transformed into this Adit on Life. Those first posts were all about how ridiculous the plan was and why it shouldn’t go on. Some friends who caught wind of my blog were surprised by how, in their terms, explosive I could be.
Afterwards, the counstruction finally continued under the agreement. As a result, Metro Pondok Indah has six lanes and no separator. There are two bus stops in the area, one directly connected to Pondok Indah Mall’s skywalk. The construction of the corridor finished in a short time. However, the show didn’t go on so smoothly. Its operation was delayed by various reasons, mostly by complicated bus procurement. The shelters were literally abandoned and lane separators, in other parts of the corridor of course, were chipped here and there.
Then, the governor announced that the new corridor will start running on Valentine’s Day 2009. Yet, it got delayed again for a week, maybe because of the “surprisingly” poor state of its infrasructure. Workers were immediately deployed to clean and prepare the bus stops for inauguration operation. After the numerous, yet widely expected delays, Governor Fauzi Bowo can finally say TransJakarta Corridor VIII is in da ‘hood.
<<I drafted this post almost two weeks ago, before all the exams started to flood me>>
Today, I am proud to say that I have experienced the "Corridor VIII experience”. And by saying proud, I mean I actually have the right to criticize it. First of all, there were not enough buses. This translates to long waiting time in the stuffy bus stop and to hours of standing in the packed bus. I was forced to stand the whole length of my journey from Grogol to Pondok Indah: totally not a nice feeling. To be fair, this is a problem in almost all corridors, so I won’t get too specific on this one. Next, the operation is kinda fizzled. Instead of connecting Lebak Bulus to Harmoni, the corridor is cut off in Grogol, yet the information is somewhat insufficient.
On a more personal level, this corridor just doesn’t do it for me. If I want to go home from my campus in Salemba to Pondok Indah, I’ll have to hop on and off about three corridors. That needn’t be a problem if the corridors have humane waiting time. Thus, the plan is major no-no. Moreover, even if I managed to survive and reach the new corridor, the bus would take the most ridiculous course to reach my area: from Grogol to Jalan Panjang (which is literally panjang [long]) through Arteri Pondok Indah and finally Pondok Indah Mall. This is also an issue for people who are trying to reach, let’s say, Sudirman from Pondok Indah. Tell me, how many people from this side of the town work in areas like Permata Hijau or Kebon Jeruk compared to Sudirman?
I frankly don’t think the busway will do any significant good. It obviously fails to attract motorbike and car drivers to switch, despite the teasing “Capek Macet? Naik TransJakarta” (Tired of Traffic Jams? Get on TransJakarta) campaign. Hey, I’d rather brave the traffic jams rather than necrotize my legs in the busway! Let’s evaluate this corridor again sometimes in the future; perhaps if I get the chance and the impulsiveness that got me there in the first place.
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