Bus owners told to bring fleets up to standard

Bus owners told to bring fleets up to standard

JAKARTA (JP): The municipal administration has ordered owners
of buses and other public transit vehicles operating in the
capital to bring their fleets up to standard to improve service
and facilitate traffic flow.

JP Sepang, chairman of the Land Transportation and Traffic
Control Agency, said that bringing fleets up to standard is
necessary to improving the image of Jakarta in the eyes of the
delegates and other guests of the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) meeting.

"We have ordered all owners of buses and other transportation
means to pay more attention to the condition of their fleets,
especially their cleanliness," he said.

Sepang told the Antara news agency on Thursday that he has
also ordered all heads of the traffic control agency's chapters
throughout the city to improve cleanliness in and around
terminals and bus shelters, as well as traffic signs.

He said that supervision of the condition of public transit
vehicles and of the traffic signs and other traffic supporting
facilities is part of the agency's daily operations.

"These operations are being intensified at present in
preparation for the APEC meeting," he said.

Herman Tonglo Langi, head of the agency's control and
transportation office, said that his office registered 516
traffic violations by drivers of public transit vehicles last
month. All of the cases have gone to trial.

"Unlike in September when most violations were committed by
bus drivers, last month's violations were dominated by truck
drivers," he said.

The violations ranged from exceeding load capacity limits and
deviating from designated transportation routes to exceeding the
deadline for vehicle roadworthy examinations, he said.

He explained that most violations by bus drivers involved
cutting short their routes to avoid entering terminals. Bus
drivers are often reluctant to use the terminals because they are
forced to wait in a long lines to pick up passengers.

In a related development, Brig. Gen. Dibyo Widodo, deputy head
of the city police, said that the public transit vehicles in the
city transport at least 4.5 million passengers daily.

"Due to the large amount of the passengers transported by the
public transit vehicles, all related parties are invited to pay
more attention to the companies' management," he said.

Poor quality

Speaking at the closing ceremony for the course for the
upgrading of drivers of public vehicles in Serpong, West Java, on
Thursday, Widodo said that improvement of the firms' management
is badly needed to enable them to provide better services.

He expressed concern over the poor quality of the management
of public transit companies, which are established on a limited
liability basis and do not have their own fleets. Most of these
firms simply organize bus owners under a loose, umbrella-type
management.

Under such a structure, the companies do not have any
relationship with their drivers, who are hired by the vehicle
owners and are obliged to pay rental fees to them on a daily
basis, he said.

Widodo also expressed dissatisfaction over the confusion as to
who is responsible for the handling the costs for the operation
of the transit vehicle maintenance centers, which are scattered
throughout the city.

He said that traffic problems in the capital have become
increasingly complicated because the increase in the number of
vehicles is not in line with the growth of the population.

"Discipline on the part of drivers is also still low. Most of
them recklessly speed and ignore existing regulations," he added.
(hhr)