Kopaja buses are an essential part of many Jakartans’ daily commutes. They are also (with the exception of a few new ones) rusty, smoke-spewing hunks of junk that clog up roads with their willingness to stop and pick up passengers wherever they feel like it.
But Kopajas may soon be a thing of the past, as the Jakarta Government is looking to phase out the old green and white buses entirely in favor of larger vehicles.
“Gradually we will get rid of them. Going forward, we will replace all Kopaja buses with a ones the same size as the Transjakarta,” Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama said at City Hall today as quoted by MetroTV.
Ahok said the operators of Kopaja buses may not replace any of their old buses with new ones of the same size – in the future they must purchase Transjakarta sized buses.
The governor said he wasn’t worried about public transport operators who threatened retaliation over his administration’s new rules.
“Who has the power? Who has the money? Yes, the government. Go ahead and threaten us. Who owns the roads? We do. Operators can threaten, if government officials are weak and they want to bribe them. As long as officials don’t take bribes, you have to be careful,” Ahok said.
