Subsidies touted as key to keep wheels turning<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): City Council Speaker Edy Waluyo urged the city
\nadministration on Wednesday to keep its promise to issue a ruling
\ngranting subsidies to bus firms in a bid to avoid a mass strike
\nby drivers and owners.<\/p>\n
"We'll ask the governor soon to issue the ruling on bus firm
\nsubsidies," Edy said.<\/p>\n
He said the council rejected a proposed increase in bus fares,
\ncontending that subsidies would be more effective in helping the
\nbus firms avoid the threat of bankruptcy due to skyrocketing
\nprices of vehicle spare parts and components.<\/p>\n
A bus fare hike would only provide a further burden to the
\nmajority of Jakarta residents still suffering in the prolonged
\neconomic crisis, he added.<\/p>\n
Operational director of Metromini minibus firm Johannes
\nDamanik also asked Governor Sutiyoso to fulfill his promise to
\ngrant subsidies.<\/p>\n
"We have not received the government subsidies up to now,"
\nDamanik said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
He warned that the bus firms, grouped in the Association of
\nLand Transportation Owners (Organda), would hold a mass strike if
\nSutiyoso failed to fulfill his pledge.<\/p>\n
Damanik did not specify a deadline for the granting of the
\nsubsidies or when the strike was planned.<\/p>\n
Owners and drivers of city bus firms have repeatedly
\nthreatened to strike if the city administration did not allow
\nthem to raise fares.<\/p>\n
They said the crisis increased their firms' operational costs,
\nincluding maintenance expenditures and costs of spare parts.<\/p>\n
The firms previously canceled a planned strike after Sutiyoso
\npromised them on Sept. 10 to provide subsidies, including a
\ntemporary 50 percent reduction on taxes and levies.<\/p>\n
"The subsidies will take effect next week," Sutiyoso said last
\nmonth.<\/p>\n
Sutiyoso proposed a bus fare hike in July to the previous City
\nCouncil, but it was rejected.<\/p>\n
The new council, installed on Aug. 25, has also rejected the
\nproposal despite Sutiyoso's urging for it to be studied in depth.<\/p>\n
He proposed a Rp 200 fare increase for regular buses,
\nminibuses, limited seat (Patas) buses and air-conditioned Patas
\nbuses. The student fare for regular buses would be doubled to Rp
\n200. (jun)<\/p>",
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