City prepares to increase public transportation fares

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As the government plans to raise fuel prices early in October, the Jakarta administration has requested assistance from the City Transportation Council (DTK) to suggest some possible public transportation fare increases.

"Any fare hike will deal a blow to most public transportation users ... That's why we want DTK to help us mitigated it as much as possible," Jakarta Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo said on Tuesday.

DTK is manned by scholars, a consumer protection foundation, passenger representatives, businesspeople, traffic police, as well as the City Transportation Agency.

DTK member Agus Sidharta confirmed Fauzi's statement, saying that the calculation of the fare increase was still being discussed by the DTK.

The administration said that it already begun cooperating with the police and military to deal with the possibility of massive strikes in the capital in protest against the increase of gasoline, diesel and possibly kerosene.

"The Jakarta police and military have made available some backup buses and trucks, which will be ready so commuters would not be stranded," Fauzi said, without giving any details on the numbers of buses available for short-term use.

Meanwhile, the Jakarta chapter of the Land Transportation Owners (Organda DKI) chairman Herry Rotty said each company owner would raise fares.

"We are still waiting for the announcement on the exact increase of diesel and gasoline so we can decide the fare increase and propose it to the administration," he said.

According to Rotty, fuel expenses account for 20 percent of the total operational costs for public transportation companies.

Another executive with Organda DKI, TR Panjaitan, estimated that Organda would propose an increase of Rp 627 for regular buses and Rp 867 for non-economy class buses if the fuel prices double.

Currently, the regular bus fare is Rp 1,200, while the air- conditioned buses cost Rp 3,300. However, passengers often complain that bus staff have required them to pay fares higher than those government-determined fares.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla has reportedly intimated that the government could increase some fuel prices by up to 80 percent next week.

The new fare hike will be the second this year after the administration approved in March increases of between 9 percent and 19 percent for transportation fares, in response to the fuel hikes by an average of 29 percent on March 1.

A recent survey by the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) found that Jakarta residents have to spend up to 15.78 percent of their monthly income for transportation, higher than the tolerable level of between 10 percent and 12 percent.

YLKI blamed Jakarta's inefficient transportation system for the high cost of transportation, which burdens both consumers and public transportation companies.