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.