A Success Story: Changing Mindset of Road Transport in West Java

Those who travel from Bandung to Jakarta and vice versa on a regular basis must be familiar with Tiketux. Yet, behind the success of Tiketux, there is a long and winding story of one of its founders, Barton Yan Fari, an ITHB former student.

Barton, that’s how Fari’s friends call him, started his life journey when he read a scholarship announcement from ITHB. Moneyless yet determined, Barton left his home and ventured to Bandung. “I felt like I was chosen. It was as if I was guided by some kind of power. Like it wasn’t a coincidence at all,” confessed Barton, who scored the highest in the high school graduation examination in his hometown Batu. Not too long after he began his study at the first semester he ran out of money. Luckily, a friend helped him lobby the Academic Director until he was granted an apprentice work at the campus. “I cried before him, saying sobbingly how I wanted to continue studying. My job was to type course books. I can’t help but remembering God’s lending hand every time I remember those times.”

As ITHB Rector Samuel Tarigan once said, ITHB is a campus of future entrepreneurs, those who would do their best to succeed. “The campus sowed in me values that would later influence my life. For example, the academic life at ITHB taught me to always do the best despite all limitations. And all these lessons were priceless.”

Barton, a 2007 IT graduate, once boarded at a friend’s house. He survived by borrowing his friend’s computer to work on his projects until he finally managed to open a small computer service workshop.

After a series of unfortunate business ventures, in 2010 Barton and partners started a new business which they called PT Trans Berjaya Katulistiwa (TBK). TBK offered total solution for road transport businesses. By integrating ticketing, marketing, financial, and operational systems, TBK helped clients focus more on developing their core business. TBK launched tiketux.com in 2013 after seeing a promising opportunity behind the Bandung-Jakarta traffic, which, based on Barton’s calculation, carried an average of 20,000 passengers on every working day. Imagine the figure on holidays. The volume was higher than that carried by night busses altogether.

 TBK made a brilliant innovation when they launched an online reservation system for Cipaganti Travel (now MGo). The system is now integrated with online banking system and ticket reservation system at Indomaret convenience store counters, where passengers can request to be picked up and the stores can promote themselves to passengers in reward.

TBK has made another big success by changing passengers’ mindset. Thanks to TBK, road transport reservation system has now become as advanced and convenient as that of air ticketing system. Want a proof? Look at Baraya Travel. The investment that the company made in vehicles and ticketing technology has led towards higher efficiency, making it a shuttle transport company with the highest traffic and passenger volume. All shuttle transport providers in West Java, including Xtrans, MGo, Day Trans, Baraya, Pasteur Trans, MR Trans, Kagum Shuttle, Bhinneka Sangkuriang, Geulis Travel, Arnes Shuttle, and Banten Tour Mandiri have partnered with TBK. TBK has even spread its wings to Kalimantan, serving a local company called Banyumili Travel. About 10,000 users log into TBK mobile application from their smartphone. Barton is not satisfied yet with having a growing number of partners and assets. The father of one child dreams that one day all road transport practices and systems would refer to TBK’s standard operating procedures, including those for drivers’ certification.

Barton will never forget the challenges that he faced when he was still studying and starting his career. It is for this reason that he now provides scholarships to 10 elementary and middle high school students, and one ITHB student. “I want to be an extension of the Lord’s hand. If you want to change something, you cannot neglect education and character building. In our company, we believe that big things result from good education and character. And ITHB is a perfect place for that.”

Barton Yan Fari

Owner & Founder PT Trans Berjaya Katulistiwa – total solution for road transport businesses

Informatics Engineering graduate 2007