December 29, 2021
In the Indonesian province of East Java, a bus transit system (BTS) serving the city of Surabaya and surrounding regencies (administrative divisions) and cities was officially inaugurated. (Surabaya, the capital of East Java, is second only to Jakarta as Indonesia’s largest city.) This BTS owes its name in part to pecel semanggi, a traditional dish and cultural fixture in that region of Indonesia. Semanggi is a type of clover and one of the main ingredients of that long-popular dish.
Trans Semanggi Suroboyo — also known as Surabaya BTS or Trans Metro Surabaya — is part of a nationwide pilot project called Teman Bus. As a participant in this initiative promoting large-scale BTS options, the government of Surabaya received a grant for 104 buses from Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation. These vehicles will ultimately be used for a total of six corridors (routes) within the Surabaya metropolitan area.
The formal launch of Trans Semanggi Suroboyo was held at Surabaya City Hall. The public officials taking part in this event included Marta Hardisarwono, secretary of the Directorate General of Land Transportation at the Ministry of Transportation; and Eri Cahyadi, mayor of Surabaya. During his remarks at this event, Cahyadi expressed optimism that the new bus system would reduce local traffic congestion.
The inaugural corridor for Trans Semanggi Suroboyo first went into service on February 1, 2022. While procurement for this system’s buses continues to be handled by the Ministry of Transportation, the actual day-to-day operations of the fleet are managed by third-party entities such as the bus companies PR Seduluran Bus Suroboyo and Perum DAMRI.
Photo Credit – id:User: Mujionomaruf (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)
For more information on Trans Semanggi Suroboyo, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_Semanggi_Suroboyo
Transportation History 
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