Lebak Bulus - Pondok Indah - Harmoni

City kicks off Corridor 8 Lebak Bulus-Harmoni route

Prodita Sabarini, THE JAKARTA POST, JAKARTA 

For tomorrow: A worker erects a sign at a Permata Hijau Transjakarta shelter in South Jakarta in preparation for the launch of Corridor 8 on Saturday, which runs from Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, to Harmoni, Central Jakarta. JP/Arief Suhardiman
The city administration will launch the latest and much-awaited Transjakarta busway lane Saturday, servicing passengers commuting from South and West Jakarta to Central Jakarta.

On Friday, the Jakarta Transportation Agency head M. Tauchid said private cars and motorcycles should vacate the busway lanes stretching from South Jakarta’s Lebak Bulus to Harmoni in Central Jakarta.  
After a one-week delay from its scheduled launch this year, some 25 buses from PT Eka Sari Lorena Transport and PT Primajasa Perdanarayautama will operate Saturday at 1 p.m. after Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo officiates the new Corridor 8 in the morning.
Previously, the city administration planned to launch the corridor using buses from other corridors.
Corridor 8 will be the first Transjakarta service to be launched under Fauzi’s administration. Corridor 4 to 7 were launched in January 2007 by governor Sutiyoso.
Starting Sunday, buses will operate from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. with eight- to 15-minute headways expected.
To have the ideal five-minute headway time, the busway operator has to provide 45 buses.  
The Corridor 8 will run two routes — from Lebak Bulus to Tomang in West Jakarta and from Grogol, West Jakarta to Harmoni via Tomang.
The Grogol-Harmoni route will run by modifying busway Corridor 3 buses, giving two options for passengers taking Corridor 3.
JP/IPUNK
Transjakarta has not released the schedule for the fully functioning Corridor 8, which is supposed to serve the 29-kilometer Lebak Bulus-Harmoni route with at least 45 buses, without passengers having to switch to Corridor 3 to reach Harmoni.
The corridor will pass 24 bus stops, including two Corridor 3 stops – Indosiar and Jelambar.
The route will also pass two bus stops at the exclusive residential area Pondok Indah, whose residents protested against the construction of a busway corridor through their area two years ago.
Several residents of Pondok Indah said the busway lanes along Jl. Pondok Indah Raya would worsen traffic. In addition, they said to make way for the lanes, the city would have to cut dozens of palm trees.
Some of residents said the palm trees were a signature of the area, which was called the Beverly Hills of Jakarta by some.
One Pondok Indah bus stop has a link to the sky bridge connecting the two Pondok Indah Malls, making it easier for passengers to enter the mall and for shoppers to take the Transjakarta bus.  
The total estimated time of travel from Lebak Bulus to the Indosiar stop and back is an hour and 50 minutes during off-peak time and two and a half hours during busy times.
Meanwhile, estimated time to travel from Lebak Bulus to Tomang and back is three hours during peak time and two hours and twenty minutes during less busy hours.
Corridor 8 was scheduled to roll out by September 2008, however, city administrators and busway operator Transjakarta missed several deadlines due to construction delays and bus shortages, leaving the facilities idle.
On Thursday, the governor said the city would receive a US$ 450 million from the central government for Jakarta’s mass rapid transit project.