Jakarta (ANTARA) - City-owned bus operator PT Transjakarta has provided 100 buses to serve its four new non-bus rapit transit (BRT) routes amid the extended transition period of the large-scale social distancing to break the chain of novel coronavirus pandemic.
"In serving passengers in Jakarta, we have provided 100 buses to serve our four new non-BRT routes with 20-minute headway time," Transjakarta's Head of Corporate Secretary and Public Relations Division Nadia Disposanjoyo said in a statement here Sunday.
The bus operation has served the Kampung Rambutan-Lebak Bulus 7A and Pasar Minggu-Tanah Abang 9D routes on Aug 13 and Aug 14 while the Universitas Indonesia-Lebak Bulus D21 and Kebayoran-Grogol 9E routes will get started on Aug 19 and Aug 25 respectively, she said.
The Transjakarta buses serve the passengers traveling through all of these new non-BRT routes from 05.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. local time, she said, adding that the bus operator would evaluate its service for these four routes regularly.
The total number of buses provided to serve the routes has been increased up to 25 percent from that of previous COVID-19 pandemic situation, Nadia Disposanjoyo said.
"This number of buses will be evaluated if there is a surge of passengers in the future. The headway time will also be evaluated regularly," she said.
In containing the potential spread of novel coronavirus disease, the Transjakarta operator has urged passengers to practice all preventive measures, mandated in the government's health protocols, she added.
The Jakarta provincial administration has been struggling to flatten the curve of COVID-19 cases in the capital city by intensifying massive swab testing to its residents.
Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin praised the Jakarta provincial government's efforts, saying that had become the sole province to conduct massive swab testing to thwart the transmission of COVID-19 among the capital city's residents.
As of August 11, the Jakarta provincial administration has conducted 469,582 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, or equal to 44,113 PCR tests per one million people, as compared to the population ratio.
Jakarta's PCR testing ratio has exceeded that of the World Health Organization's standard that necessitates 10,000 PCR tests per one million people.
COVID-19 initially struck the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019 and thereafter spread to various parts of the world, including countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Indonesian government made an official announcement on the country's first confirmed cases on March 2 this year.
To tackle this COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesia is leaving no stone unturned to develop a vaccine to fight the virus.
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