Cheap fare transportation..., really?

Why people really want to put themselves in the gutter just to use public transportation? Well, obviously because the fare is much cheaper compare if we took a taxi.

But come to think of it, if we have to use from one public transportation to another then the fare is not going to be cheap. First you probably have to pay IDR 2,000 for the mikrolet, then continue with busway amounting IDR 3,500 if you took it after 07.00 AM. After that you still need to use motorcycle taxi with fare IDR 5,000... If you add them all, then what's so cheap about it? Just double the fare to cover from the moment you left the house up to go home again.

If we read people who use busway complaining about how they have to wait for 2 hours before the busway finally available. They did that to save some money for the fare. Otherwise, once they saw how long the line is then it would be better to just walk out from the bus stop for busway. Then try to find any kind of buses that goes to our destination. And that would mean we are loosing extra money for the fare for the possibility arriving at home earlier. Well, if the regular buswasy is there in front of you within 10 minutes of waiting then we better get on with it. Even though the bus already packed with lots of people. Rather than waiting for 2 hours at the bus stop, not including the time duration to be taken before reaching home.

So, what's so cheap about from those public transportation? Or is it our own fault in choosing wrong house's location?

Not a match...

Busway and public holiday? Definitely not a match made in heaven…

Previously I heard a promotion that we can traveling around Jakarta using busway and you only need to pay once. The promotion is not a hoax. THAT if you are the only person in Jakarta who wants to ride around the town using busway.

Two years ago my cousin from out of town visited me and my parents here in Jakarta. Since my parents both just have been released from the hospital due to their illness we hardly take him to go anywhere… So, thinking to make it fun for his staying here in Jakarta, it crossed my mind to take him ride around the town using busway. During that time my niece and my nephew were also staying with us during their school's holiday. I thought, well this would be a good chance to bring them traveling around Jakarta. And surely we would not bumping to office workers. It would be fun to take them all using busway. That was my consideration.

On the first day of Lebaran’s holiday I asked my cousin and niece and nephew to go to the nearest bus stop for busway. They were obviously excited as they have never used a busway before. However when we arrived at the bus stop I stunned to see that there were so many people there. And when we finally got on the busway, it was totally crowded with people. Not only that we have to stand all the way our journey but also we have to sneak up here and there just to find a spot to stand. Oh nooo, I was worried. Perhaps because we were late?

And when we arrived at the bus stop for transit between busways there were more passengers there… Most of them were heading to places like beaches, fun park and zoo. Yeah, it is holiday now and children were enjoying their free days. This would meant that my plan to take them to those places surely going to be ruined. Finally I decided to change the destination spot and continue our journey. We stop at the next transit bus stop. And there, crowded passengers scattered around the place. My plan totally blown away. First of all, I was a bit scare that I would get separated with my niece and nephew. Second, what's the fun of waiting the busway for ages, not to mention the heat, and risk to get stomped by other people when trying to get on the busway? Probably if there were only me and my cousin I would get on with the plan. So, at the least he would learn how is the situation when people trying to get on the bus beating the crowd.

Later I learned that yeah many Jakartan escape the city to another city or even countries during the public holiday. But that does not mean make Jakarta automatically abandon and quiet. As many people who live in another city but still near Jakarta are starting to come during the holiday. Obviously most of them have the same intention as mine to travel around Jakarta with only pay the fare once. Though for that they have to be ready to queuing for the longest time ever. Sweating all over the place. Having risk to get mug by pickpockets. Or get stomped when trying to get on the busway in the middle of crowded passengers. My intention was definitely not as strong as them.

So for you all my friends who wants to try have a go to travel around Jakarta using busway during national public holiday…good luck. All I can say, get ready for everything. As Jakarta is not going to be as empty as we think it will be. Regular buses may not being occupied by many passengers. Unfortunately not with busways.

Suck it up...

Omprengan

I have no idea whether this kind of transportation is exist or otherwise outside Jakarta - Bekasi

Omprengan is illegal public transportation originally from private cars being multi functioned by the owner to bring other people who has the same destination.

So, if the owner domiciled in Bekasi but has to work in Jakarta. Rather than he deal with gasoline and highway fare alone, it would be better if he share with other people who are about to go to the same destination. Passengers prefer omprengan because even though is more expensive but at least they could avoid the tiredness for standing along the way inside the bus. Or the fare could be cheaper if the passengers need to take public transportations more than one before reaching the destination. This is only in smaller scale where the owner operated his vehicle to shares fare and in limited capacity also still prefer the comfortableness.

There are other omprengan operated almost like public transportation. They have their own base camp and not going to move before they have full passengers inside the car. Comfortableness be gone... But still people prefer to use omprengan as public transportation has becoming more disaster.

Although I worked inside the city, once for a few years I enjoyed using omprengan. Well, it was not really that comfort as the vehicle was an old minibus. But it has huge space so within force there could be 15 people inside.

The happy side? Obviously because the fare is cheaper compare to the bus. And I could sit and sleep all the way. My goodness, I really don't want to miss a chance to fall asleep...

The not so happy side because the driver always waiting for his loyal customers for a long time. Most of his customers start working at 08.30 AM so they were not in a hurry.

The funny or tragic story was the moment that I saw how people who were having too much comfort could ask for more. At that time, the gasoline price was increasing. So, the driver ask for our understanding that he would increase the fare as well. A lady asked me in vain,"Oh why he has to increase the fare?" So, she really not willing to pay more. I looked at her while thinking if she use the bus then she has to pay more than she paid right now. And there would be no chance to have a bit of comfort.

The danger of using unknown omprengan is the owner could be a robber along with the fake passengers. Which is why don't take chances when we are about to use omprengan for the first time. It would be best if we have someone who familiar with it.

Sure we need cheap fare but we always need to be alert.