Bus drivers protest overlapping routes

Bus drivers protest overlapping routes

JAKARTA (JP): About 160 drivers of Kopaja minibuses plying the
Manggarai-Blok M route in South Jakarta went to the City Council
yesterday to complain about an overlapping route with Pahala
Kencana buses.

They demanded that the Pahala Kencana bus route, from Blok M
to Grogol, be revoked because it overlapped with their route for
eight kilometers from Jl. Cianjur to Jl. Kuningan in Central
Jakarta.

The drivers went to the council building in 80 buses. Their
arrival caused heavy traffic jams in the surrounding area.

The head of Kopaja's operations division, Syarifuddin A.S.,
said that since the launch of the Pahala Kencana operation last
Monday, his company had lost half of its daily net income from
the route.

"Our income has plunged from Rp 20,000 (US$7.5) (per bus) to
only about Rp 10,000 per day now," he said.

It was hard to meet the daily standard rental fee of Rp
110,000 for an old bus and Rp 115,000 for the better ones,
Syarifuddin said.

The operation of the new buses, according to the Kopaja
drivers, had not been discussed between the Organization of City
Land Transportation Owners (Organda) and the Kopaja drivers'
association.

The drivers claimed they had filed complaints to Jakarta's
Land Transportation Agency (DLLAJ) but no response had been
received.

"We have no choice but to go on strike so as to attract the
authorities' attention to help us settle the problems," Saroni,
one of the drivers, said.

The drivers were received yesterday by Ali Wongso, the head of
Commission D for public facilities, Lukman Mokoginta of the
Indonesian Democratic Party faction and Sumekar of the Golkar
faction.

The councilors promised to take the problems to the council
meetings and discuss them with related parties.

The strike ended at about 9:45 a.m. after Ali convinced the
drivers that the councilors would initiate discussions soon.

"You have to go back to work after this meeting because we
have to think about the suffering of passengers caused by this
strike as well," he said.

"Moreover, you will lose your income. Think of your own
families too," he added.

Yesterday's strike resulted in hundreds of passengers between
Manggarai and Kuningan being delayed.

Ali praised the drivers' good behavior in that they did not
cause any damage during the strike.

"Usually this kind of strike leads to a riot and I am grateful
to you for your quick report to the councilors," he told the
drivers.

DLLAJ's chief J.P. Sepang said that the new routes given to
Pahala Kencana were proposed by Organda because of the lack of
regular buses plying the Manggarai-Blok M route.

"We can't think only of the sake of the drivers and the bus
owners, but also the needs of other people who want cheaper rates
from Pahala Kencana's regular buses," he said.

Sepang said that of the eight Pahala Kencana buses, only three
were operating in the area.

He said that if this operation tended to cause problems, DLLAJ
would review Pahala Kencana's route permits. (07)