Angkot fares to rise, bus fares remain the same

Angkot fares to rise, bus fares remain the same

JAKARTA (JP): The city's Organization of Land Transportation
Owners (Organda) agreed to the increase in fares of public
transportation vans (angkot) but it said the bus fares should
remain the same.

The organization's chairman Aip Syaifuddin told reporters
after meeting Governor Sutiyoso on Monday that his organization
proposed a fare increase of 15 percent for angkot fares or an
addition of between Rp 100 to Rp 300 from the current fares.

"We let the angkot drivers raise their fares but the increase
should be paid voluntarily. They could not force people to pay
the increased fare," he said.

The city administration and the city council separately gave
the nod to the increase, but said that the exact amount of the
increase would be further discussed.

Aip said that Organda temporarily prohibited public bus
operators from increasing their fares since they would receive
compensation from the central government.

He said a large bus, which needs an average of 120 liters of
diesel fuel a day, would receive a compensation of Rp 300 for
each liter or Rp 36,000 (about US$3) a day.

A medium bus, which uses an average of 80 liters of diesel
fuel a day, would get a compensation of Rp 300 for each liter or
Rp 24,000 a day, he said.

"The compensation would be given for a period of six months. I
don't know after six months whether we would increase the fares
or not," Aip said.

He urged the Ministry of Communications to immediately
disburse the compensation as the bus operators are currently
suffering from the fuel price hike.

Several bus drivers have already imposed their own fare
increase. Some of them increased the fare from Rp 700 to Rp 900
soon after the government announced the fuel price hike.

The government announced on Friday that it would give
compensation to the amount of Rp 216.4 billion to public
transportation operators in view of the rise in fuel prices.

Among public transportation vehicles which will receive the
subsidy are city buses and trains, excluding angkot.

On Saturday, the government increased the price of diesel fuel
to Rp 900 a liter from Rp 600. Most of the city's 7,000 buses use
diesel fuel.

Aip said although the fuel price was only 9.8 percent of the
van's operational cost, the fuel price hike could significantly
affect them, especially because it would likely be followed by an
increase in the price of spare parts.

"I received a report that the price of tires increased by 10
percent today. So we hope that the van fare increase could be
approved soon," he said.

Angkot fares are currently between Rp 500 (short destination)
and Rp 1,200 (a maximum of 14 kilometers).

Organda's proposal to increase angkot fares was granted by
city administration and city council, in view of the fact that
the vehicles received no subsidy from the government as a result
of the fuel price hike.

City spokesman Muhayat said on Monday that the administration
agreed to increase the fares, but it was still considering the
amount of the rise.

"We should also discuss the planned increase with the city
council. We don't want to be criticized by the council for
increasing the fares without consulting them," he remarked.

Separately, chairman of the council's Commission C for
budgetary and financial affairs Amarullah Asbah viewed that an
increase in angkot fares was unavoidable.

"However, the increase should not be too high. We will discuss
the amount of the increase with Organda soon," Amarullah of
Golkar Party said on Monday.

He said the amount of the fare increase should be agreed to by
all van operators who were members of Organda.(jun)