'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.