Jakarta – An accident involving a commuter train and a Metro Mini bus that killed 18 of the bus' passengers in Tambora, West Jakarta, on Sunday and the skidding of a Kopaja bus that killed one in Sudirman, Central Jakarta, have heightened calls for improving public transportation safety in the capital.

Witnesses said that prior the crash at the railway crossing on Jl. Tubagus Angke, the railway gate near Angke Station was down and the siren sounded to warn of an incoming train.

The people started yelling at the driver, who insisted on driving through the gate through a gap. The commuter train heading to Bogor in West Java crashed into the minibus, completely wrecking the bus that was traveling between Kota in West Jakarta and Manggarai in South Jakarta.

The fatalities include the driver and the driver's assistant, both of whom died in hospital, according to tempo.co. The police said there were 19 passengers on the bus and all were either dead or injured.

On the same day in the afternoon, a single-vehicle accident occurred involving a Kopaja minibus on Jl. Jendral Sudirman in Central Jakarta, killing one of its passengers and injuring the other seven.

Yoga Adiwinarto, a transportation specialist from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), said the Jakarta administration should place the two minibus operators under the management of city-owned bus operator PT Transportasi Jakarta (Transjakarta), by force if necessary, to improve their services.

"After the two accidents, it is necessary that the administration take over the management of the two operators," he told The Jakarta Post by phone on Sunday.

Drivers of Kopaja and Metro Mini buses are notorious for their reckless driving, disregarding the safety of passengers.

Yoga said the two operators could not take firm action against any of the reckless drivers because the vehicles were individually owned. If the administration did not take over the two operators as soon as possible, passengers would lose faith in public transportation and would eventually switch to private vehicles, he added

"The administration should be strict and revoke their permits if they refuse to be under Transjakarta management," he said.

If the administration took over the two operators, Transjakarta would have full control over their management, including assigning professionals to run the two firms, he said.

"Owners of vehicles in the two operators will have shares and get income but they can no longer manage the companies," he said.

Nirwono Joga, an urban expert with Trisakti University, blamed the two operators' bad management as the root of the many incidents involving their buses. "I often find many of their buses are not roadworthy and some of their drivers are underage."

Nirwono said it was urgent for the administration to push, specifically Metro Mini, to be placed under Transjakarta management.

Kopaja is owned by vehicle owners operating under a cooperative and monitored by the cooperative's management. On the other hand, Metro Mini is run by vehicle owners themselves without the control and monitoring of any management.

Jakarta Transportation Agency head Andri Yansah said that his agency hoped to launch the integration of Kopaja into Transjakarta's management in the middle of this month.

He said, however, that Metro Mini would not be integrated in the near future because the owners of Metro Mini buses had not agreed to fulfill the administration's requirements such as, among other things, each bus having air conditioning and their doors remaining closed while operating.

"Kopaja has agreed [to fulfill the requirement]," he said. He said the integration would mean Kopaja would be operated by Transjakarta, which would pay monthly salaries to the drivers.

Public minibuses and minivans in Jakarta use the "setoran" system, where each driver has a target to give some money to the vehicle owners and pocket the rest. Such a system forces the drivers to stop anywhere to pick up passengers. Witnesses of the Angke accident said the incoming train draggedthe minibus 200 meters into the station.

Motorcycle taxi driver Purwo Winarno, 38, who often looks for passengers around the area, said that Metro Mini buses often stopped around the crossing, creating traffic jams around the road. He also said Metro Minis in the area often ignored traffic signs, often passing through red lights. (saf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/12/07/crash-raises-bus-safety-issue.html