230 percent bus fare hike found at Pulo Gadung station
230 percent bus fare hike found at Pulo Gadung station
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Although Minister of Transportation Agum Gumelar ordered the monitoring of ticket prices in bus terminals, passengers in Pulo Gadung bus terminal still had to pay a fare increase of up to 230 percent on Monday.
Larsi, a staff member of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), posted at the bus terminal, told The Jakarta Post that at least 30 economy class bus passengers were forced to pay tickets with a 230 percent increase over the normal fares.
She said that several standard buses, traveling between Jakarta and Surabaya, had raised ticket prices by 230 percent from the usual Rp 50,000 (US$50) to Rp 165,000.
The tickets for an air-conditioned bus from Jakarta to Surabaya jumped by about 22 percent from the normal price of Rp 102,000 to Rp 127,000.
The increase violates the government regulation that fare prices may only be increased by 12 percent during the Idul Fitri holiday this year.
"Within the last two days we've received 30 reports of complaints concerning the illegal hike of ticket fares ranging from 15 to 230 percent," she said.
She said that the prices that passengers paid to the bus operators did not tally with the price printed on the tickets.
Bus operators only gave unmarked tickets to passengers buying tickets in their counters and required them to pay for the tickets on board the buses.
If the passengers refused to pay as requested they would be left stranded somewhere on the way to their destination.
YLKI added that another ruse was the use of fare listings made by several bus companies to replace those issued by the Ministry of Transportation, with an increase of at least 24 percent.
According to Larsi, most of the reports came from economy class bus passengers from lower income groups with little formal education.
The passengers, who reported the illegal fare rise, were asked to give their copies of identity cards, phone numbers and the bus tickets they bought to validate their complaints.
At the Lebak Bulus bus terminal in South Jakarta, passengers were only asked to pay an increase of about 12 percent as required by the government.
The head of the Lebak Bulus bus terminal, Sarbini, told the Post that he had not received any reports of an increase in ticket prices over the government stipulated rate.
Several passengers who were questioned about the bus fares at the terminal agreed that they had not encountered any difficulties and had no complaints about bus fares.
"I found no illegal increase in ticket prices here," said Siti, 37, a housewife who was about to travel to Denpasar, Bali.
Another passenger, Hasmin, 48, a trader wanting to travel to Palembang, South Sumatra shared Siti's opinion.
The YLKI also confirmed that Lebak Bulus bus station, at least until Monday, was free of any ticket price violations.
Both Pulo Gadung and Lebak Bulus bus terminals saw no significant increase in passengers on Monday.
Minister of Transportation Agum Gumelar has instructed the director general of land transportation to investigate reports that some bus companies have increased their fares by more than 12 percent as approved by the House of Representatives.
"Thank you for all the information, including information from journalists. The director general of land transportation will definitely ask the monitoring team to follow up on the reports," Agum was quoted by Antara as saying after officiating the operation of Idul Fitri monitoring posts.
The monitoring posts involve all institutions related to transportation during the upcoming Idul Fitri holiday, including the police, ferry operator PT ASDP, state-owned shipping company PT Pelni, state-owned bus operator Damri and the Meteorological and Geophysics Agency (BMG).
Agum said companies that violated the government regulation on the fare hike would be sanctioned.
"We may revoke a company's business permit if it continues to violate the regulation after several warnings," the minister said.
"Bus operators must comply with the percentage set by the House. It must be upheld," Agum said.