Council OKs 58% bus fare increase
Council OKs 58% bus fare increase
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Although some bus crews have unilaterally doubled the fares hot
on the heels of the Oct. 1 fuel price hike of 126.6 percent, the
Jakarta City Council finally approved on Tuesday an increase of
between 25 percent and 58 percent.
"The approved figure is slightly lower than the proposal of
Governor Sutiyoso. We took out the depreciation value component
in our calculation as we deemed that most Jakarta buses are old,"
council speaker Ade Surapriatna said.
The council met with the City Transportation Council (DTK) and
City Transportation Agency on Tuesday to hear the proposal made
by the DTK over the fare increase.
Ade said that the recommendation had been directly passed on
to Sutiyoso for immediate implementation.
"This recommendation is final and the governor (Sutiyoso)
cannot amend it. He is only allowed to sign the gubernatorial
decree to follow up the recommendation," he asserted.
He urged Sutiyoso's administration to make the new fares
effective as of Wednesday to give certainty to bus operators, bus
crew as well as passengers.
He said that taxi fares were not included in the proposal made
by Sutiyoso.
"We only handle public transportation vehicles. We don't
discuss taxi fares here since those vehicles are serving people
who can afford to pay more," he said.
City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya confirmed that the new fares
would come into effect on Wednesday.
"We need to finalize the gubernatorial decree before going
ahead with the new fares," he said.
DTK member, Andi Rahmah warned that the new fares would deal a
severe blow to most Jakarta residents who reportedly spend 20
percent of their daily income on transportation.
"With the new fares ruling, they have to fork out more money
for transportation, while at the same time they have to spend
more to purchase basic commodities, the prices of which have also
soared following the fuel price hike," said Andi, who is also an
activist with non-governmental organization, Pelangi.