'Angkot' fare hike burdens poor people
JAKARTA (JP): The increase in public minivan fares may only be Rp 200 but it is more than enough to cause increased distress for people on low incomes.
In the nation's capital, it can take quite an amount of time for one to travel from one end of the city to another. Jakarta is home to at least 10 million people, but during the day this number increases by some 2 million as swarms of people living in the suburbs, including Bekasi, Depok and Tangerang, commute into the city to work.
Many people have been bewailing the rise in fuel prices, which have been followed by hikes in public transportation fares and the prices of basic commodities and other items, while their incomes remain the same.
Effendi, 47, a construction worker who lives in Jati Asih, Bekasi, has to change vehicles three times during the trip from his home to his place of work. First he has to take a minivan to Pondok Gede, also in Bekasi, before jumping into another vehicle to Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, and then taking a van to Pulomas, East Jakarta, where he has a temporary job as a laborer on a building site.
"I have had to spend another Rp 1,200 per day on transportation since the operators started raising the fares two days ago. This additional outlay is really a burden for poor people like me," he told The Jakarta Post in a van on Thursday.
The father of two children said he earned Rp 20,000 per day, but had to spend Rp 7,500 on transportation alone since the hike.
"Why is life even getting harder under President Abdurrahman Wahid's government," he complained, adding that fuel prices had only recently been raised in the second half of last year.
He said he could do nothing about the fare hikes even though they ate into his income. "It was much easier under former President Soeharto when prices were stable," he added.
Titin, 35, an elementary school teacher in Utan Kayu, East Jakarta, also complained about the hike in angkot (public minivan) fares.
"We don't receive any additional money to cover these hikes," she said.
The mother of two who lives in Cipinang Cempedak subdistrict, East Jakarta, also has to change her minivan three times to reach her school, even though it is located in the same mayoralty.
"The hike is Rp 200, so I have to spend another Rp 1,200 a day. Over a month that amounts to Rp 36,000. Ten percent of my salary!" she exclaimed.
She added, however, that public transportation operators and drivers should not be blamed for the hikes.
She said it is the government which should be blamed as it wanted to plug the ballooning budget deficit by reducing the subsidies on fuel, sacrificing the little people into the bargain.
"Where do the various taxes that we pay go?" she added.
Suwandi, 39, a father of two children and a resident of Rawabunga subdistrict, Jatinegara, East Jakarta, who has just quit his job as a cleaner, said the fare hike had created a new problem for him.
"I must take an angkot if I want to go out to look for a job. I used to pay Rp 500 to get to Kampung Melayu bus terminal, but now I have to pay Rp 700. I'm confused because Rp 200 is precious enough for me," he said at the bus terminal.
Afrizal, 32, a street vendor at Senen market in Central Jakarta, also complained, saying the government was again "strangling" the little people with the fuel hikes.
"I live in Cakung, East Jakarta, I have to take an angkot to and from Pulogadung bus terminal everyday. From now on, I will have to spend another Rp 600 a day just on angkot fares, excluding my increased expenditure on kerosene and other items that have gone up. I think I'll have to feed my wife and child on salt alone as there is no way my daily income can cover my household needs. No kidding," he said.
He added that if the government really needed to increase fuel prices, then instead of being raised by 30 percent in one fell swoop, they should be raised by 10% annually so that the people would not be unduly burdened and would have time to prepare themselves.(01)