Airport taxi fees called 'extortion'

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.