Bajajs may disappear soon

Bajajs may disappear soon

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration is planning to gradually phase out another type of three-wheeled motorized vehicle (bajaj) from the city's streets.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said yesterday that the plan will begin as soon as his office has decided on a replacement for the bajaj.

"It's true we will remove the vehicles from the street, but at the moment we are still concentrating on phasing out bemo.. But sooner or later bajaj will also be banned from the street," he said. A Bajaj carries three passengers at the most, while a bemo is a slightly larger three-wheeled motorized vehicle that can carry up to seven passengers.

The speaker of the city council, M.H. Ritonga, said that the plan should be made with care, determining what kind of vehicle would be appropriate for the city.

"The administration should determine the replacement for bajaj before enforcing the plan and it should take into account the fate of owners and drivers of the vehicles," he said.

Ritonga said the step is important to avoid what happened when the city administration eliminated becak (pedicabs) on the last day of 1990. The city administration offered no substitute for the becak and the subsequent disappearance of the pedicabs led to the appearance of motorcycle taxis, known as ojek, which are now illegally operating all around the city.

Previously, the deputy of the city land transportation control agency, Irzal Djamal, said that the city administration will remove bajaj from the city's streets because they violate Provincial Decree No. 4/1985 on city planning.

Irzal said the decree stipulates that only four-wheeled motorized vehicles are allowed to operate as public transport on the city's streets.

Bajaj was first introduced in Jakarta in 1970s. Currently there are more than 14,000 bajaj throughout the city.

The city administration has decided to phase out about 1,000 bemo, which were introduced in 1962, by the end of this year.(yns)