City postpones bus fare increase for a week

JAKARTA (JP): Failing to reach an agreement with bus operators and councillors over bus fares, the city administration decided on Tuesday to postpone its plan to increase bus fares for a week.

Several bus companies, nevertheless, have reportedly realized their threats and raised their fares arbitrarily.

Speaking to reporters after meeting several councillors and bus operators, deputy governor for development affairs Budihardjo Sukmadi said the city administration had agreed to postpone the bus fare hike.

"We agreed to postpone the hike to give the council time to reconsider its recommendation," Budihardjo said after the meeting at City Hall.

The city administration had proposed to the council a bus fare increase of between 30 percent and 60 percent, but the council slashed it to a maximum of 30 percent.

The secretary of Jakarta's Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) Asrul Azis Teba, said the council's recommendation was based mainly on political and not economic consideration.

Azis said during the week of postponement, the council should consider a bigger fare increase by taking into account the economic conditions.

"The council needs more time to discuss the fare hike. We are ready to be invited again to talk about it," he told reporters after the meeting.

He said Organda, which proposed a 100 percent increase, agreed that the increase should be, at least, the same as Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's proposal. Sutiyoso had proposed a 57 percent fare hike.

Despite the decision to postpone the bus fare increase, some bus companies on Tuesday increased their fares arbitrarily.

An upset passenger, Jamaludin, who usually paid a fare of Rp 700 said he was told to pay Rp 1,000 by the conductor of a Kopaja bus plying the Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta -- Kampung Rambutan, East Jakarta route

Jamaludin said the passengers could not question the raise as there was an official announcement on the bus door notifying passengers that the fares had been increased.

"The bus driver even asked some passengers to get off the bus before reaching Tanah Abang," Jamaludin, a resident of Jl. Talang, Central Jakarta, said.

Another passenger, Rustam, said he had also paid Rp 1,000, instead of the official fare of Rp 700, to a Metromini bus plying the Kampung Melayu -- Klender, East Jakarta route.

Other bus companies, such as Mayasari Bhakti, reportedly had also increased their fares.

Budihardjo again urged bus operators not to increase their fares until the city administration announced the fare increase next week.

Asrul Azis also agreed to call on the 14 bus companies in the city not to increase the fares arbitrarily while the fare increase was still being negotiated.

"It's just an advise, we cannot guarantee that bus companies will not increase their fares arbitrarily," he said.

Organda's chairman Aip Syaifuddin claimed that his organization could not sanction bus companies which arbitrarily raised their fares.

"They would be happy if we asked them to leave Organda as they would no longer have to pay their membership fees," Aip added. (jun)