Airport taxi fees called 'extortion'
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
Comfort indeed has a price, but a number of passengers taking taxis from the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, Tangerang, consider the surcharge imposed by airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II intolerable.
"I consider it extortion ... I still don't understand what the money is actually for," Rita, a resident of Vila Tomang housing estate in Pasar Kemis, Tangerang, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
She had arrived from Surabaya, collected her luggage and got into a Ratax Taxi. The driver immediately asked her to pay Rp 10,500 (US$1.10) up front.
"The airport and my home are in the same zone, and I couldn't believe I had to pay that much just to enter my own town," she said. She also had to pay the toll road fees.
Diana, who lives in Kebayoran Lama, South Jakarta, had to pay a Rp 150,000 taxi fare and a Rp 15,000 airport surcharge two weeks ago, before the new system was introduced. The driver of the green-and-red Koperasi Taxi she took refused to use the meter.
"The usual fare, the new one, is no more than Rp 75,000," she said.
The head of PT Angkasa Pura's airport branch, Untung Rahayu, said the surcharge depended on the distance of destination from the airport. The farther the destination, the lower the surcharge.
The rate for Zone I is Rp 10,500, zone II is Rp 9,000, while the farther Zone III is Rp 7,500.
"A surcharge is imposed on taxi passengers to reimburse drivers for the time they have to wait to get passengers," he told the Post.
"Taxi drivers have to wait for hours in line ... I think the surcharge is affordable for passengers," he said, adding that if no surcharge was collected, taxi drivers would not be willing to wait for passengers.
The airport operator recently introduced a new system that enables it to monitor taxis operating at the airport, in response to mounting complaints over illegal charges and robbery in airport taxis.
The new system integrates the management of airport taxis and bus services, which was initially managed by an airport task force.
Under the new system, passengers can take a taxi of their choice from among the 13 taxi companies operating at the airport, namely Blue Bird Group, Taxi Cab, Express, Primajasa, Tiffani, Koperasi Taksi, Gading, Steady Safe, Sri Medali, Ratax, Dian, Royal City and Gamya.
Taxi drivers with companies other than the Blue Bird Group have complained about the new system, which they say has reduced their income because passengers prefer to take Blue Bird.
"Under the old system, airport officers required passengers to take the first taxi in the queue. Now we have to wait much longer to get a passenger," Sonny, a Dian taxi driver, told the Post.