22 bus companies violate Idul Fitri fare policy

22 bus companies violate Idul Fitri fare policy

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A small undercover team assigned to monitor buses during the Idul
Fitri exodus reported Thursday that 42 bus crews from 22 bus
companies committed violations ranging from raising fares above
the allowed ceiling to dropping off passengers before reaching
their destinations.

City Transportation Agency head Nurrachman said Thursday his
office would pass on the report to the Directorate General of
Land Transportation at the Ministry of Transportation for a
further follow-up.

"Since our authority is limited to monitoring, we will let the
Directorate General of Land Transportation impose sanctions on
the violators. Now we are in the process of collecting evidence
and (making a) report," Nurrachman said at City Hall.

A 25-strong team assigned by the agency discovered that some
bus crews had raised their fares from 3.76 percent at the lowest
to a hefty 645 percent.

Team members posed as bus passengers departing from Jakarta a
week before the Idul Fitri on Nov. 3 and Nov. 4 and returned to
the city a week later.

A crew in the Lantera Jaya bus group that drives the Jakarta-
Lampung route charged passengers Rp 190,000 per trip, well above
the ceiling of only Rp 25,500 per person.

Another crew serving the Jakarta-Yogyakarta route dropped off
their passengers at the Mirasari Restaurant in Sokaraja,
Purwokerto -- halfway to Yogyakarta -- without a clear reason and
leaving them all stranded.

City councillor Fathi R Siddhiq, who is also secretary of the
council's Commission D overseeing transportation and development
affairs, urged the Directorate General of Land Transportation to
immediately impose sanctions on the badly behaved crews.

"Heavy sanctions must be handed down to those operators that
have repeatedly violated the regulations. The Directorate General
could suspend their licenses for several months if necessary,"
Fathi said on Thursday.

If the government turned a blind eye to violations discovered
by its own officers, it would further undermine public trust in
the government and the city administration, Fathi said.

Last year, the Ministry of Transportation penalized 51 buses
belonging to 29 operators for breaching the fare ceilings during
the Idul Fitri exodus.