Seeing Jakarta by Bus

With the school closed for the week and the city is emptier than normal because its the end of Ramadan and millions have left Jakarta to go back home to celebrate the end of fasting, it is the ideal time to explore and visit places in the city. So I have.

Today I spent the afternoon on the buses getting from my home to Pasar Baroe to give me something to do and indulge in my interest of exploring and learning more about the city. Pasar Baroe is north heading toward Sunter and other fantastic places and from my house in the south, on a normal day it can take a good hour of more to get across the city and then find somewhere to park. The market is a covered street selling clothes, jewellery and general stuff that you can find everywhere else, but it is very old and historic and fairly well preserved. 

I took the bus for the challenge and the ease of Journey. Also because there are lots of photo opportunities through out the trip which is also fun for me.

I took an ojek from my house to the busway at Pancoran Barat and then changed at Semanggi. To get to the other Semanggi  bus shelter you have to take a very long walk along a walk way. I then took another bus to Harmoni which is the main exchange of all Transjakart Buses and then from there another bus to Pasar Baroe. 3 Buses and only one cost of 3,500 rupiah because you only have to pay to get on the busway system and so as long as you don't exit it then you can ride the bus all day all around the city for next to nothing. 

After Pasar Baroe, I took a walk to the Bank of Indonesia ( yes a very long walk ) and then took the bus to Duku Atas and changed for a bus to Mampang, changed at Kuninghan and then took a final bus to my starting point. Again all for 3,500 rupiah. I was met by a local Ojek who happily took me home.

 A typical busway shelter

Nice when empty but not nice when full

 One of the many bridges you have to cross to get to the busway

 The walk down to the ground

 A bendy bus

 When buses break down you have to walk through one to get to the other

 Rusty roofs of the older buses

A map of the busway, which has most of the routes on it. Though I am sure there are new ones added already.

So for less than 25,000 rupiah I travelled across the city, quickly and simply and with out much fuss. Oh and that photo of crossing through a broken down bus to get to another. Yep that happened today as well and for most bus travellers, its seems the norm.