Bus firms warned over regular bus operation

JAKARTA (JP): The city land traffic control agency is threatening to harshly punish bus companies which fail to operate 30 percent of their fleet as regular buses by the end of next month.

The head of the agency, JP Sepang, announced yesterday that the companies may lose their operation permits if they take the warning lightly.

"We have given the companies enough time. There'll be no more negotiating," he said.

At least six licensed companies have all but refused to operate regular buses, stating financial reasons as the excuse. They prefer operating express buses which are more profitable.

The companies are: PT Ikawali which has a permit to operate 75 buses, Bianglala 300 buses, PT Steady Safe 248 buses, Giri Indah 100 buses, Himpurna 100 buses and Arion 50 buses.

They should operate at least 272 regular buses between them.

The fare on regular buses is Rp 300 (13 US cents) per person while express buses charge Rp 700 per person.

Sepang said the state-run bus company PPD operates 350 of its 1,637 regular buses while private bus company PT Mayasari Bakti operates 234 of its 998 regular buses.

The number is not enough for the approximately five million people who use buses to commute to and from their working places everyday.

This condition has forced passengers to use express buses despite the higher fare.

Sepang also chastised taxi owners who fail to have their meters adjusted by the end of July, and said the list of the new rates widely used by taxi drivers would be retracted from them.

In April, the government increased the taxi flag fall from Rp 900 to Rp 1,500 and increased the fare from Rp 450 to Rp 550 for every kilometer.

However, some taxi firms have failed to adjust the meters in their cabs and have instead given their drivers lists of the adjusted fares to show passengers.

"I will not condone any taxi which is still using a list to determine the fare," he said.

The city now has 26 taxi companies with a total of 17,000 cabs. (yns)