The city council and the city transportation council demanded Wednesday busway operator Transjakarta answer directly to the governor instead of the transportation agency.

Nurmansyah Lubis, a city councilor, said it would make the decision making process concerning the Mass Rapid Transit system more efficient.

Transjakarta currently answers to the city's transportation agency.

Nurmansyah said Transjakarta should be headed by an expert in public transportation, not a civil servant.

"To place Transjakarta directly under the governor, we need a gubernatorial decree," Nurmansyah said.

Soetanto Soehondo, a member of the city's transportation council, agreed, saying Transjakarta should ideally work with and answer directly to the governor.

"Transjakarta as a pilot project must succeed because it represents the beginning of a strong public transportation development in Jakarta. Therefore, the governor should pay this project special attention so all Transjakarta operations remain under control," Soetanto said.

During a plenary session at the city council Wednesday, the council's deputy spokesperson, Ilal Ferhard, demanded Transjakarta management undergo a full evaluation. The call came after several problems caused by management issues were found.

Ilal said Transjakarta did not have adequate procedures in place to deal with all technical aspects and business administration. He said the city administration's continual subsidization of the busway needed to be addressed.

"In 2007, the busway received 63,446,336 fares of Rp 3,500 each, even though the real fare should have been Rp 5,245. That means the subsidy reached Rp 1,745 per person," he said.

He said Transjakarta received a subsidy of Rp 153 billion last year on top of its net income of Rp 168 billion.

"Of that figure, it spent Rp 263 billion on bus operations. Transjakarta must carry out a study on operational costs per kilometer so we can establish an effective payment system with private consortia supplying the buses," he said, as quoted by newsportal Beritajakarta.com.

Ilal said Transjakarta always claimed to be in the red and needed to reduce revenue leakages.

Soetanto said Transjakarta could generate more income from its seven existing corridors by improving feeder services, a distance-based fare system and its advertising. He also said the company could be more efficient in operations, management and on bus-route planning.

Two consortia supplying buses, the city administration and Transjakarta are in negotiations over a set of new lower operational rates to be paid to the consortia.

The new lower rates came about after the administration held an open tender for bus suppliers, as mandated by a 2006 presidential regulation on service and goods procurement.

All the tender winners offered lower rates than the existing consortia, PT Jakarta Trans Metropolitan (JTM) and PT Jakarta Mega Trans (JMT).

Primajasa, for example, offered a rate of Rp 9,536 (US$1) for every kilometer its buses traveled on Corridor 4 (Pulo Gadung, East Jakarta to Dukuh Atas, Central Jakarta).