Blue Bird to improve taxi security system

JAKARTA (JP): The Blue Bird Group, a transportation company, plans to enhance its Blue Bird taxis' security system by installing acrylic partition behind drivers' seats.

"We have ordered a new taxi fleet of 600 Nissan Sunny cars and each of them will be equipped with the partition." Blue Bird's operation director, Purnomo Prawiro, said yesterday after a ceremony commemorating the company's 25th anniversary.

He said the company was so concerned about the security of its drivers that for the last three years it had installed hidden alarm systems and microphones in its taxis.

An alarm system, costing Rp 500,000 (US$205), is connected to the automatic number identification system. The apparatus has buttons with which a driver uses to either respond to an operator's call or send a warning signal.

"We cannot guarantee that the partition can give complete protection to a driver but it will at least prevent him from being attack from behind," Purnomo said, adding the partitions might be installed this year.

"The partition is designed in Japan and we plan to construct it here in bulk," he said.

With the help of the alarm system, the company succeeded in preventing at least eight robbery attempts last year, though one Blue Bird driver was stabbed to death in an incident.

The head of personnel administration, Anny Syahroel, said she could not understand why taxi drivers were targeted by robbers, because drivers carried meager amounts of cash of between Rp 50,000 and Rp 120,000 a day.

Blue Bird, which operates around 1,550 taxis, receives around 5,000 telephone orders daily. Peak hours are between 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., and between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Blue Bird has taxi pools in Kreo, Ciputat, Condet, Cimanggis, Kramat Jati, Klender, Garuda, Cakung. Its head office is in Mampang Prapatan. (10)