Soekarno-Hatta Airport Jakarta is not in Jakarta Province. This airport is located in Banten Province. The Government of Indonesia built this airport outside Jakarta to replace Kemayoran airport which located in the center of Jakarta. Kemayoran airport was closed due to safety reason and couldn’t develop with fast city growth around Kemayoran. The runway of Kemayoran airport is use as big road now. The name is Jl Benyamin S., which is the name of most popular Jakarta entertainer.
So, Soekarno-Hatta Airport is far from Jakarta. This airport has good pilot visibility from the sea and enough space for development. The best and special way to airport is Tol Bandara (airport toll-road). Airport toll-road is connected with city toll-road and other Jakarta toll-road. Although toll-road in Indonesia called as jalan bebas hambatan (free obstacle road), airport and city toll-roads often have traffic jam mainly in the morning and the afternoon.
One of public transportation to and from airport is Taxi. There are many taxi companies in airport. If we have enough budgets, we can use Silver Bird that has best service and safety or we can use another taxi companies with cheaper fare. But for the cheapest public transport is by bus. Indonesian people call it bus Damri (Damri Bus).
Damri bus load passenger from arrival terminal 1A, 1B, 1C, and 2F. These buses have many destinations in Jakarta and some point outside Jakarta. Almost of them are bus or angkot terminals (see “Terminal in Jakarta”). Damri bus destinations are:
South Jakarta: Pasar Minggu terminal,
Blok M terminal,
Kampung Rambutan terminal,
Lebak Bulus terminal, and
Bogor terminal.
East Jakarta: Rawa Mangun terminal,
Tanjung Priok harbour,
Bekasi, and
Cikarang.
Center of Jakarta: Gambir train station,
Kemayoran, and
Mangga Dua Square mall.
Damri bus fares are Rp 25.000 (25 thousand rupiahs) for Cikarang and Bogor, Rp 23.000 (23 thousand rupiahs) for Bekasi, and Rp 20.000 (20 thousand rupiahs) for other destinations. With rate of exchange nine thousand rupiahs per US$, the most far destination is less than 3 US$.
Damri Bus is big bus and has about 40 seats capacity. But in the busy time some passengers will be ready to standing due to all seats occupied. The bus equipped with air conditioning and use toll-road. The buses are departed every one hour or less depend on demand. From Jakarta, these buses depart every one hour or every half hour in the morning or in busy time start from 04.00 a.m. (local time).
