Better services before hike, say passengers

Better services before hike, say passengers

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Wawan (not his real name), has had to spend more money on his
daily commute than he really needs to, because the bus along the
route from his home does not follow its designated course,
forcing him and fellow passengers to take other public
transportation vehicles to reach their destinations.

"Every day, I take the Kopaja B93 bus plying the Cengkareng-
Tanah Abang route, but the driver makes a U-turn at Roxy, West
Jakarta, which means that I have to take a separate minivan to
reach my stall in Tanah Abang," he told The Jakarta Post on
Saturday.

An apparel trader at the market, Wawan spends Rp 2,000 (22
U.S. cents) to get to his workplace, while in fact, he would have
spent only half this amount if the bus driver had followed his
route.

Bus drivers abandoning their routes is but one example of how
bus operators in Jakarta have failed to serve their passengers.

Turning a blind eye to such poor services that have yet to be
improved, bus operators under the Organization of Land
Transportation Owners (Organda) recently demanded a 50-percent
increase in bus fares and threatened to suspend operations if the
demand was not met.

"It has been like this for the last five years," Wawan said,
referring to the undisciplined bus drivers who drop off
passengers before completing their routes.

He said that the first time the driver deviated from the usual
route, he struck up an argument with the bus crew, who
reluctantly found another bus that would give him a free ride.

"But over time, they have simply stopped caring about their
passengers and we are tired of arguing with them after all these
years. So we end up finding other buses to get to our
destination," Wawan said with dismay.

He went on to say that the same thing happened when he went
home from work at night.

"I take the Kopaja B95 bus plying the route from Tanah Abang
to Kalideres in West Jakarta, but the driver does not go farther
than Cengkareng.

"This means that those who live in Kalideres must take another
bus (from Cengkareng) to get home," he said, adding that
passengers had to take three different public transportation
vehicles from Tanah Abang to the Kalideres bus terminal, instead
of the usual two.

Given the excessive transportation costs resulting from
delinquent bus drivers, Wawan said that his neighbors in
Cengkareng -- a couple who also owns a stall at Tanah Abang
Market -- had decided to move to Kota Bambu in Central Jakarta, a
neighborhood which is adjacent to the market.

There is not much passengers can do about the fact that some
public transportation vehicles refuse to complete their routes,
said an elderly man on board a Tanah Abang-Senen bus.

"If there are only two passengers left on the bus, and the bus
is only halfway to the bus terminal, the driver can easily drop
them off. If the passengers are lucky, the conductor will find
them another bus," he explained.

He added that traffic jams had also forced bus drivers to
abandon their routes.

"Some buses on the route from Grogol in West Jakarta to
Kampung Rambutan in East Jakarta often make a U-turn at Cawang,
East Jakarta, because of the heavy congestion along the way to
the terminal," he told the Post.

Many passengers agree that route violations go unheeded by bus
operators, who do not pay attention to the rights of passengers
in getting decent services.

"Organda has done nothing to improve service for passengers,
so their demand for a fare increase is unjustifiable," Wawan
concluded.