Agency confirms proposal on regular bus fare hike

Agency confirms proposal on regular bus fare hike

JAKARTA (JP): An agency confirmed it would propose a hike of
the regular city bus fare and the elimination of non air-
conditioned, limited passenger (Patas) buses to the government.

Speaking to Governor Surjadi Soedirdja yesterday, the City
Land Transportation Agency (DLLAJ) head, J.P. Sepang, said the
agency would propose the hike soon.

"The proposed Rp 500 (20 U.S. cents) fare is not really a
hike, because the agency is proposing the elimination of non air-
conditioned Patas buses (with a Rp 700 fare)," he said.

In the proposal, he said, the Rp 300 fare of regular buses and
the Rp 700 fare of non air-conditioned Patas buses would be
combined and divided in two, which was the proposed Rp 500 bus
fare.

"Under the scheme, there would be only air-conditioned Patas
buses and Rp 500 regular buses," Sepang said.

Currently bus fleets are classified into three categories:
regular buses with a Rp 300 fare, non air-conditioned Patas buses
with a Rp 700 fare and air-conditioned Patas buses with a Rp
1,800 fare.

City Council Speaker M.H. Ritonga said the proposed hike
should not burden the public.

"Transportation is a complicated matter because it involves
many people," Ritonga said, "But people should also be objective
about a bus fare hike."

When asked whether the proposed Rp 500 regular bus fare was
acceptable, he said it would depend on consumers.

Councilor Lukman F. Mokoginta of the Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI) said the proposed increase was acceptable as long as
it was followed by better service.

"If service remains the same, it's hard to say whether the
hike is acceptable or not because people expect improvement,"
Lukman said.

He added the hike proposal should consider economic
conditions, including minimum wage and inflation.

Councilor Muhammad Rodja said the hike was acceptable as long
as bus owners guaranteed better service.

"We need concrete proof, not just promises. The problem is how
they (bus owners) are going to improve service," Rodja of the
United Development Party (PPP) said.

"If the bus fare is increased, there should be no more excuses
for not improving service," he said.

Assistant secretary of economic and development affairs,
Prawoto S. Danoemihardjo, said on Monday that DLLAJ would propose
a regular bus fare hike to the government.

The Rp 200 hike, he said, was being prepared because the
existing regular bus fare was no longer adequate to cover bus
companies' operational and maintenance costs.

The current low fare, he said, has made some bus companies
reluctant to operate regular buses. Some even changed the
classification of some of their bus fleets from low-fare regular
buses to non air-conditioned Patas buses with a Rp 700 fare.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said in his speech last week that
the current regular bus fare was inadequate.

However Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto said in
March that the government would not raise public bus fares before
the general assembly in March next year.

Haryanto was responding to a request by the chairman of the
Organization of Land Transportation Owners city branch, Aip
Syarifuddin, to raise the regular bus fare.

There are now 3,691 buses (including state-owned PPD buses):
1,900 non air-conditioned Patas buses, 672 air-conditioned Patas
buses and 1,119 regular buses -- operating in the city. (ste)