City to issue decree on night transportation
City to issue decree on night transportation
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja supports an idea to
issue a provincial decree on night transportation which was
proposed by City Council Speaker M.H. Ritonga, saying that a
nighttime-transit system is very important.
"The administration is taking the idea seriously. It is our
job to provide the public with transportation vehicles day and
night," he said.
The governor also said that he will order the City Land
Transportation Agency (DLLAJ) to evaluate the current policy on
night transportation.
"There must be something wrong with the implementation of the
DLLAJ instruction for private companies to provide night
transportation vehicles," he said.
Ritonga said on Tuesday that a provincial decree to force
public transport companies to operate their fleets at night is
badly needed. He said the existing regulation is not legally
powerful enough to convince the companies to operate night
transportation.
"I think the administration should make a gubernatorial or
provincial decree to provide public transportation," he said.
Ritonga was commenting on the fact that many transportation
companies refuse to operate their fleets at night despite the
instruction of the transportation agency.
"The instruction does not have the power to force companies to
comply. The agency cannot take firm action against those who
disobey the requirement and we can only give them written
warning," said Hulman Sitorus, the head of program department of
the agency.
The instruction, issued in 1994, stipulates that bus companies
are obliged to operate 20 percent of their fleets at night.
Two years after the administration tried to make night
transport available, people, especially shift workers, still
complain about the absence of public vehicles at night.
The condition is caused by the fact that only 12 out of 307
routes in the city are serviced by public transport despite an
instruction issued by the head of agency.
"Night transportation services are practically less profitable
that daytime services. The number of commuters is much smaller at
night," Hulman said.
He said that minibuses and big capacity buses are too big to
be used as night transportation vehicles. Passengers have to
spend hours just waiting for large buses to fill with people.
As a result, people use unauthorized transportation vehicles
which operate at night.
The unauthorized vehicles are mostly privately owned vans
which charge each passenger Rp 1,500 (65 US cents) per person.
City public buses charge only about Rp 400 per person. (yns)