City temporarily halts cool transportation options

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The City Transportation Agency announced on Thursday that it had ordered two air-conditioned mikrolet minivans, which started operating only on Tuesday, off the road for charging more than the ceiling fare imposed by the Jakarta administration.

The agency's head, Rustam Effendy Sidabutar, announced at City Hall that his agency had discovered that the drivers had charged passengers Rp 2,500, more than the allowed fare of Rp 1,900.

"It violates the gubernatorial decree. That's why we forced the owner to stop operating the minivans."

Gubernatorial Decree No. 412/2005, signed by Sutiyoso on March 8, stipulates that fares for public minivans cannot be more than Rp 1,900.

Rustam said his agency welcomed the improved services provided by the owner of the air-conditioned minivans.

"But the improvements are not a reason to raise fares ... They can resume operations only after the owner makes a written statement promising not to repeat the mistake of raising the fare."

However, Jeany, 24, whose office is on Jl. Dewi Sartika in East Jakarta and who often takes a No. 06 mikrolet from Kampung Melayu to Gandaria, the route the two air-conditioned minivans plied, objected to the agency's ban.

"It's simply unfair. The agency should also punish other minivans with no air-conditioners with a similar sanction as all of them charge more than the ceiling fare of Rp 1,900," she said.

Concurring with Jeany, Halim, 30, a resident of Pasar Rebo, East Jakarta, who often catches a No. 16 mikrolet from Pasar Minggu to Kampung Melayu or the S15 mikrolet from Pasar Minggu to Pasar Rebo, said the agency should encourage owners of minivans to improve their services instead of punish them.

"I don't think the agency really knows the field where fares follow 'the market price' rather than fares set by the administration," he said.

Currently, fares range from Rp 1,000 to Rp 3,000 depending on distance.

An executive with the Jakarta Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda), Aip Syarifudin, said several owners of public minivans had expressed their readiness to replace their old vehicles with air-conditioned ones.

A minivan is licensed to carry a maximum of 11 passengers.