'4848' taxis: One tire in the junkyard?

'4848' taxis: One tire in the junkyard?

By Johannes Simbolon

JAKARTA (JP): Is the Bandung-based 4848 taxi company obsolete
after decades of fame and service?

Not if Irawan Saringi, the company's owner, can help it.

But, judging by the fact that Taman Mini Indonesia Indah's
Transportation Museum has reportedly asked for the company's
first taxi, a modified 1957 Chevrolet pick-up, 4848 may be a
thing of the past.

Or, it could be a tribute to the firm's remarkable achievement
as the only private transportation company in the country that
still exists after almost four decades of service.

Old is the firm's trademark. Pay a visit to its office on Jl.
Prapatan in Central Jakarta and you will see a handful of old,
blue and white Chevrolets and Holdens parked on the lawn. There
are few modern cars.

There's no music, no air conditioning and little comfort. The
dashboards and seats are worn-out and the steering wheels are
old-fashioned. Two passengers squeeze into the front seat and
three into the back.

The condition of the cars may cause anxiety for first-time
clients. A picture of a painful, boring and mechanical break
down-rife journey immediately springs to mind.

The anxiety is unfounded. Air conditioning and music are not
needed because the area between Jakarta and Bandung is famous for
its cool climate and its beauty is like music. The old cars can
run as fast as modern ones, don't consume any more gasoline
(about 30 liters a trip) and their endurance is reportedly
better.

"Since I joined the firm in the 1970s, the car I drive has
never broken down," said driver Boy Sumaraw, 60, who can passably
speak four foreign languages.

4848 is indeed an uncommon name. Irawan Sarpingi, 69, the
firm's owner, explained to The Jakarta Post that it was the
office phone number back in 1959 when he started the company.

"When I applied for a phone number for my Bandung office, the
state telephone company offered me 3434 or 4848. I opted for 4848
and made it the name of the firm," he recalled.

Believing the number brought him luck, Irawan clung to it
wherever he opened new offices. The Jakarta office's phone
number, for example, is 4894848 and 3848048. When Bandung changed
to six digits, Irawan changed the firm's number into 434848.

"If someone says 'I'll go to Jakarta by train or by bus' there
would be no further conversation since the information is clear.
If he or she says 'I'll go by 4848, people who have yet to know
about it, would surely wonder 'What is 4848?'," Irawan explained,
giving away his marketing strategy.

Small beginnings

A war veteran, Irawan, whose real name is Uwon Raswan, was
born in 1926 in Singaparna, West Java.

"Irawan was initially my code name during the guerrilla wars,"
he said.

His father had a number of horse carts plying between
Singaparna and Tasikmalaya and traded agricultural produce. Young
Irawan often played hooky from primary school to hitch a ride to
Tasikmalaya and sometimes secretly drove the cart. This was his
introduction to the transportation business.

He continued his studies at a Dutch-style junior high school
in Bandung and then at a trade school in the same town during the
Japanese occupation. After World War II, he joined the town's
militia to fight the returning Dutch.

The idea of setting up the taxi firm popped into his mind when
he worked as an adjutant to the deputy of the army chief of
staff, Gen. Gatot Subroto, at army headquarters in Jakarta. He
and some friends often chartered buses to Bandung on weekends and
returned to Jakarta early Monday morning. He made up his mind to
quit the military and run a taxi business -- following the path
of his father.

"An idea came to my mind. Why not set up a transportation
company to fetch the passengers at their homes and carry them to
their destinations, instead of operating from terminal to
terminal?" Irawan said.

He handed in his letter of resignation and Subroto donated a
1957 Chevrolet pick-up for him to start the door-to-door taxi
service.

He modified the vehicle so that it could accommodate seven
passengers and their luggage. To enable customers to make orders
from their homes, he had a phone installed at his Bandung office,
the first transportation company in Indonesia to do so.

He called his taxis "suburban", an English word he borrowed
and adjusted to mean "intercity transportation".

"From talks with friends, I came to know the word suburban in
America means the area outside towns. Thus, I introduced the word
suburban to mean intercity transportation," he explained.

Today, many Indonesians think suburban or, as some people
pronounce it, "superben" is Indonesian for "intercity
transportation". They are unaware that Irawan abused the English
word to fit his clever marketing strategy.

Competitor

His business flourished. In a year, he had 50 cars in his
armada. Now, after almost four decades, he not only has an
intercity fleet of 700 driving as far as Lampung and Surabaya,
but also city taxis in Bandung. The company has also started a
courier service with branches in Singapore and Hong Kong. It now
employs around 2,500 workers, 2,000 of whom are drivers.

Irawan still controls the management although his son Dadan
Pahlawan, who has a master's degree from the U.S. International
University in San Diego, has started to co-manage the business.

They tried to replace all their old cars, but found that the
new cars broke down too easily.

"We often ask the automotive industry to produce long-
endurance cars. So far, there is no such thing on the market,"
said Dadan.

Several other taxi companies, like Media and Parahiangan, also
ply the Jakarta to Bandung route but have failed to seriously
dent 4848's share. They have failed because 4848 has a mass of
loyal clients, including some celebrities.

"We sometimes help our competitors by calling them to carry
our customers, especially when all the drivers are exhausted,"
said Dadan.

Their main competitor, Dadan said, is the state train company
which has improved its service in the past few years. In the
past, the trains were often haunted by pickpockets, but are now
relatively safe. It only takes two-and-a-half hours by to travel
by train between Jakarta and Bandung and costs as little as Rp
12,500. The 4848 taxis take about four hours and costs Rp 13,000.
The train departs every hour, 4848 taxis only go if all the seats
are full. Unlike the trains, however, 4848 taxis work around the
clock and drop passengers at the door.

However, the drivers, who only get 12 percent of the fare,
have begun to grumble about the decrease in passengers and
earnings.

"Until two years ago, we could make at least three trips a
day. Now, because of the trains, the number of passengers has
dropped and sometimes I can wait for two days without one trip,"
said driver Asep, 57, who joined the firm in the 1960s.

It is ironic that a few old trains running along an old track
have turned a fleet of old cars into museum pieces.