City mulls revising new bus fares

City mulls revising new bus fares

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Amid strong opposition from bus operators over the increase in
public bus fares here, Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso has said his
administration will consider revising the new fares.

"If the councillors are willing to revise the ruling, I will
go with it since they represent the residents," Sutiyoso said
over the weekend.

He recounted that the new fares had also been approved by the
councillors. "The councillors must therefore be consulted with
over any changes in the ruling," he said.

The Jakarta Council approved two weeks ago public
transportation fare increases, as proposed earlier by Jakarta
Governor Sutiyoso, of between 25 and 58 percent. The approved
fares have made public transportation players unhappy since they
proposed an increase of between 39 and 113 percent.

Some bus crews have demanded of passengers that they pay fares
higher than those approved. Crews of economy-class buses with
limited seats, for instance, have asked passengers to pay Rp
2,500, higher than the approved fare of Rp 2,000.

City Council speaker Ade Surapriatna said the councillors were
ready to revise the new fares, and that the council was awaiting
feedback from residents and bus operators over the new fares.

"Basically, we want all parties to survive the latest fuel
prices increases, both residents and bus operators ... We will
immediately consider the revision of the ruling should we receive
strong objections over the fares," he said.

Meanwhile, chairman of the Jakarta branch of the Organization
of Land Transportation Owners (Organda DKI) Herry Rotty said his
organization had requested that the City Transportation Agency
evaluate the implementation of the new rates.

"We are slated to discuss the results of the evaluation next
week together with the agency as well as the City Transportation
Council (DTK)," Herry said.

The DTK is an independent body manned by representatives of
the public (as passengers), non-governmental organizations,
traffic police, scholars and public transportation players, which
is tasked to give feedback to the Jakarta governor over
transportation issues, including on fare increase.

According to Herry, the results of the discussion would be
passed on to the Jakarta council for follow-up.