Merry Christmas

To all readers and users of public transportation, wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year :)

Beware WIth PPD P 157

If you are in Jakarta right now and use regular buses please always be careful with your bags, wallet and so on. It has been a while since I used regular bus and a pickpocket succesfully took my wallet without me knowing it...

Don't expect another passenger will help you as they naturally worry they will be the next target. Especially if they are using the bus daily.

Watch it for this bus PPD P 157. If you wish to see the route you may refer to this link. Unfortunately is in bahasa Indonesia.

You may be friendly with other passengers but don't let your guard down. If your bag has zipper make sure the bag never lost your sight. If you are wearing backpack maybe you should put it in front of you. They can use cutter to open your bag and take whatever they can have.

Enjoy Jakarta but always be careful!

E-ticketing Started 1 November 2014

Quoting from TEMPO, starting from 1st of November , get ready to have at least one prepaid card if you are planning to use busway as your daily transportation.

I am also quoting from Jakarta Globe, that  The bus operator will implement the payment system at nine corridors — corridor VIII (Harmoni-Lebak Bulus route) and corridor IX (Pinang Ranti-Pluit) on Nov. 1; corridor II (Harmoni-Pulo Gadung route) and corridor III (Harmoni-Kalideres) on Nov. 22; corridor V (Ancol-Kampung Melayu) and corridor VII (Kamung Rambutan-Kampung Melayu) on Nov. 29; and corridor X (Tanjung Priok-Cililitan), corridor XI (Kampung Melayu-East Jakarta mayor’s office) and corridor XII (Pluit-Tanjung Priok) on Dec. 13.

Hopefully this information will be useful. If you wish to know a bit about e-ticket  you can read it here. 

Get Ready For Traffic Jam on 20th Of October

You may refer to this site to find out more about our president's inauguration :)


President's inauguration will be held on 20th of October 2014. For all of you here in Jakarta, get ready for heavy traffic jam on that day. Especially those around National Monument. There will be celebration for the people by the people and from the people. Why oh why they have to do it on MONDAY? When many of us have to go to work. Though I am totally happy with this celebration, I have to prepare alternate route for me to go home.

So, let's pray for a NATIONAL HOLIDAY on 20th of October 2014 so, we can relax and enjoy the celebration....at home.

Unfortunately I only have the run down in Indonesian.

Cheaper with E-Money

With prepaid card from Bank Mandiri, you will only pay IDR 16,- for busway and commuter line. Since only last 3 days from 06 October up to 8 October, you better hurry up ^_^

Prohibition on Commuter Line

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Once a while I used train aka commuter line during the weekend. To tell you the truth, getting on the train is another transportation torture. As both of them takes forever before finally arrived at the station or bus stop. Though of course, train takes shorter time compare with busway.

E-Ticket Announcement

For all busway user, this photo was taken at busway stop Harmoni. The announcement inform passengers that they have to use prepaid card now instead buying ticket manually. The pre-paid card will cost you IDR 40.000,- as IDR 20.000,- is for the card and the balance can be used for 5 - 6 trips. Minimum amount to top up your prepaid card is IDR 20.000,- Hope this information will be usefull.

You may top up your balance with ATM here or just pay with cash.

E-Ticket for Busway and Commuter Line

As you probably aware, from my previous post here , there will be several busway stops that going to use E-ticket instead of selling ticket manually.

Though E-ticket using Flazz Card and others are now can be used for both busway and commuter line, there is something that you need to know.

If you are using a totally new card for busway, you can just use the card until there is no balance left. But for commuter line, you have to ensure there is more than enough balance to cover your trip. PLUS, if you are going to use a totally new car then you need to activate it. YES. Activate it first, ask around where you should activate your new car before you use it to pass the entrace gate. 

Empty Street

Don't you just love Jakarta during Lebaran's holiday? :)

FINALLY

Few days ago, I saw this announcement about e-ticket.

Start from 11th of August 2014, passengers will have to use E-Ticket for busway or Trans Jakarta at these several bus stop :

Before Idul Fitri Holiday

I know I haven't been in this blog for ages and tell you the truth I was sort of out of ideas what to write. I mean, everyday I face the same thing over again and again. Crowded angry passengers, few buses only that it seems only the driver and God knows exactly about their schedule. I was afraid you might get bored with it because there is nothing new rather than my daily experiences. But anyway, let me try to write a summary what happened to me from January until recently, near Idul Fitri holiday.

Need To Know ABout E-Ticket

If you are here in Jakarta and wish to try our public transportation, maybe you should try E-ticket. Okay, this is my third posting in a row about e-ticket. Now you are all going to think I am their sales person. I can assure you that I am not :)

Anyway, I think from various cards only FLAZZ Card that can be used to buy ticket for both TransJakarta (known as Busway) and Commuter Line.

The things that you need to know about using Flazz Card is:

1. You can buy Flazz Card at certain bus stop for Trans Jakarta. The balance of this newly purchased card usually at IDR 20.000,- or IDR 50.000,- depends which one is available.

2. If you are using busway before 07.00 AM then the bus fare is only at IDR 2.000,-  After 07.00 AM, the bus fare is IDR 3.500,-
Once you swipe the Flazz Card, the fare will be deducted from the balance.

3. If you are traveling around Jakarta with Commuter Line, the fare will be calculated from how far your route is.

4. You can use Flazz Card (and other cards from various Banks; you may refer from here) , to purchase ticket for more than 1 person. As long as you have enough balance to cover for them all.

5. You can only use Flazz Card (and e-ticket from Commuter Line) for yourself. Because the fare will be deducted after you arrived at the destination not before.

6. You can use Flazz Card until there is only zero balance if you travel by busway. Like for example, there is available balance about IDR 4.000,- Then you can use it to buy 2 tickets for morning fare. And only 1 ticket for one person after 07.00 AM

7. You can't use Flazz Card if there is only available balance : IDR 10.000,- to travel by Commuter Line. So you need to make sure you have sufficient balance.

8. If you have registered account with BCA, then you may have ATM that will enable you to top up the balance of your FLAZZ CARD. You may top the balance starting from IDR 20.000,-

If not..., then you probably just get a new one at the nearest bus stop for busway or at train station and tossed the old one. Or, keep it as a souvenir :)

E-Ticket Recommended

I am using busway on daily basis, so there is no surprise when I finally decided to use e-ticket. You may look at this posting if you wish to know a bit about e-ticket.

The most practical e-ticket to be used is this one: JakCard and card from mini market : Indomaret. If your JakCard have no balance then you can have it top up at the busway stop. But note, not all busway stop able to top up the card.

What To Do While On The Journey

Using busway is something that I have to do to get home as I have no other cheaper alternative. Obviously is a boring journey with people cramped together in one compartment. So, to entertain myself, I used to take photos along the way. Like these 4 following photos, on Passar Senen after that big fire and what happened to the vendors. They are all scattered on the street.

Taking Photos Along The Way

During the time that I spent through busway corridors and their buses, I managed to take photos while Pasar Senen ( one of the old market or old fashioned mall in Jakarta) was on fire. The fire started around 4 AM on Friday 25 April 2014. From a distance, mind you.

And here are the photos

Why Rain Always Comes on Friday?

And I have no answer for that... Here are some photos that I have taken this rainy morning around the bus stop at Harmoni Jakarta. .

Jakarta This Cloudy Morning

Here are photos taken from TransJakarta Bus Stop Harmoni this morning:

Harmoni Bus Stop This Morning

Rain pouring down heavily since last night and this is the look of the river taken from Harmoni Bus stop on 29th January 2014.

Here are news about TransJakarta :

Bigger TransJakarta (hopefully soon)

New buses for TransJakarta (when? where? which? What? Really?)

NOWHERE SAFE (especially for female passengers)

Rules Are Made To Be Broken

Around 1 November, there would be Rp. 500.000,- fine for those entering busway lane. But then, rule is just being rule. Without someone to watch, people tends to broken it. The following pictures tells it all...

Photos on 22-23 Jan 2014

Photos were taken around 5 PM yesterday at bus stop Harmoni and around Passer Baroe area across from Gedung Kesenian Jakarta.

The Flood Episode

Dark Sky

As usual, in the beginning of the year we have rainy season. The rain pouring down hard on earth and as the result we have another flood session around Jakarta. With the flood all over the city, people find it hard to go around. Schools closed down, either because they were surrounded by flood. Or becoming base camp for the refugees. Busways or any other transportation unable to cross the flooding area. And therefore, workers having difficulty to get to their offices on time. Sometimes, they have to turn back home because the road was no longer there due to the flood.

Happy Birthday to Busway aka TransJakarta

TransJakarta will celebrate their 10 years operation on 25 January 2014. To celebrate it, they give 50% discount to e-ticket users (e-ticket BRI, BNI, BCA, Bank Mandiri, Bank DKI, and Bank Mega) . The special discount started today 15  January 2014 until 22 January 2014. However, if you buy the ticket using cash as usual then the regular price still apply.

Happy Birthday to TransJakarta and hopefully the service will be getting better every day.

Rain = Flood = NO BUSWAY

The year 2013 has passed and now we are in the middle of January 2014, back to our routines. Holiday is so over. And it means we are back to the usual head to head, body to body, cramped together on the bus or any other public transportation.