City prepares to increase public transportation fares

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.