Bogor 'angkot' drivers strike

BOGOR (JP): More than 400 angkot (public minivan) drivers went on strike on Monday in protest at the operations of illegal minivans on their routes, leaving thousands of passengers stranded on the Cibinong-Bogor highway.

Bogor Police had to deploy trucks to serve the stranded commuters.

"We have deployed seven trucks to carry all the passengers," Bogor Police chief Lt. Col. Ade Husen told reporters.

The drivers of the 08 route plying from Cibinong Pasar to Anyar said they were angry over the presence of too many minivans on the Cibinong-Bogor highway, most of which have no legal licenses.

"There are more than 1,300 angkot serving the route out of a recommended limit of 800," a protesting driver, Tagor, said.

He accused officials of the Bogor Traffic and Land Transportation Agency of allowing the illegal minivans to operate.

"The officials haven't taken any action yet to solve this problem," he said.

An agency official, however, denied the allegation.

"We have monitored at least 100 illegal minivans operating on the route," the official, Soebiantoro, told reporters. "We have difficulties in netting the illegal minivans as they disappear each time we raid them."

The 08 public minivan drivers also forced intercity buses to join in with their strike.

The bus drivers reluctantly followed suit fearing that minivan drivers might damage their buses. (21/nvn)