City told to eliminate limited passenger buses

JAKARTA (JP): Non-AC limited passenger buses should be eliminated and the city should operate only regular and air- conditioned express buses, a councilor said yesterday.

Councilor M. Rodja of the United Development Party faction said the non-AC limited-passenger (Patas) buses should be converted into regular buses to boost this service.

He was responding to complaints that some regular buses had disappeared from service on designated routes and that the limited passenger service was not being run as a limited service, but still charged more money than other services.

"There's no difference in service between regular buses and non-AC Patas buses. The passengers still have to stand up," Rodja said.

According to the City Land Transportation Agency data, the city now operates 3,691 buses, 1,900 of them are non-AC Patas, and 672 AC Patas, and 1,119 regular buses. The buses ply 217 routes in the city.

He said that because the regular basic service was not operating fully, many passengers had to use the more expensive limited passenger service.

Under the fare structure set by the government last year, regular buses charge Rp 300 (12 U.S. cents) per person and limited passenger buses charge Rp 700 per person.

City regulations allow limited passenger buses during peak hours to carry only 10 more passengers than the number of available seats. But, according to recent complaints, the regulation is often disregarded by bus drivers.

Deputy governor of economic and development affairs Tb. M. Rais said yesterday the city would consider the councilor's suggestion. "But, we still have to examine it (the suggestion)," he said.

The head of the City Land Transportation Agency, J.P. Sepang, said the agency would eliminate non-AC Patas buses only if officially instructed.

"It's up to them (the municipality and the government) and not us," Sepang said at City Hall yesterday.

In response to the disappearance of regular buses from its designated routes, he admitted the agency faced difficulties monitoring its routes.

The chairman of the Association of Public Transportation Owners (Organda) city branch, Aip Syarifuddin, blamed the disappearance of regular buses from its designated routes on the bus companies inability to repair damaged buses.

He said most bus companies depend on the profit gain from AC Patas buses to subsidize regular buses.

"The city only operates 672 AC Patas buses, while ideally, there should be 2,000 AC Patas buses to cover regular buses operational costs," Aip said.

He agreed the agency should punish bus companies which violated traffic regulations by not operating their regular buses, or by changing their designated routes.

Councilor Abdulgani H.A. urged the agency to revoke operation permits of bus companies found violating traffic regulations.

"If they (bus companies) want to increase fares, they should come and discuss it with the municipality, instead of stopping their bus operations," Abdulgani said.

According to agency data, many regular buses from Mayasari Bakti and Bianglala bus companies had stopped operating altogether.

Only three out of 11 Mayasari Bakti's regular buses plying the Rawamangun-Blok M route are still operating.

The data showed that none of the company's seven buses plying Kampung Rambutan-Kebayoran Lama route, and nine buses plying the Pulo Gadung-Pasar Minggu route, were on the streets.

Records also showed that only seven of Mayasari's 20 buses with permits to ply Kampung Melayu-Bekasi route were still operating.

Another bus company, Bianglala, had failed to operate its regular buses on the Lebak Bulus-Kampung Melayu and Lebak Bulus- Manggarai routes. (ste)