Council urges bus fare hike be reviewed

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council will likely turn down the government's proposal to increase bus fares by up to almost 60 percent, saying that the hike should be lower.

The City Council's Commission D for development affairs chairman Sayogo Hendrosubroto asked the administration not to include all operational cost components, such as the price of buses, as a consideration to increase the fares.

"If the administration only include the hike in fuel and spare parts prices, the bus fare increase would not as high as proposed," Sayogo said after a meeting between his commission, Commission C for budgetary and financial affairs and the City Land Transportation Agency (DLLAJ).

He said the council would discuss the proposal with the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) and the city's Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) before making any decision on the increase.

He said the council would also consider the rise which had unofficially been imposed by bus drivers, as it was not as high as the governor's proposal.

"We will come to a conclusion on the amount of the increase on Saturday at the latest after the council leadership's meeting," he added.

Sayogo said the administration hoped the council could decide its stance soon as city governor Sutiyoso would sign the decree on the bus fare increase on Sunday.

He said that he could understand the governor's wish to expedite it as the bus drivers and operators had threatened to conduct a strike or arbitrarily increase the fares on Monday, if the administration did not raise the fares.

Under the government's proposal, the current bus fares, which are between Rp 500 and Rp 2,500, will increase to between Rp 1,000 and Rp 3,500, while students, who now pay Rp 200, will have to pay Rp 300 each.

The drivers are now charging passengers about 30 percent on top of previous fares since the government announced the fuel price increase on June 15.

Thursday's meeting also discussed the possibility that the administration give a subsidy to bus operators because the implementation of a similar subsidy promised by the central government is still unclear.

But city officials rejected the idea for fear that other people, such as kerosene users would also demand a similar subsidy.

Separately, City Governor Sutiyoso admitted that he was still at a loss about the subsidy for bus operators, which was promised by the central government.

He claimed that the administration had sought clarity from the central government but to no avail.

"Imagining (receipt of) the subsidy is like imagining the moon falling to earth. That's our conclusion," Sutiyoso told reporters at City Hall on Thursday.

DLLAJ's chief Rustam Effendy revealed that the disbursement of the subsidy from the government, which was reported to reach Rp 216 billion, was still unclear.

"We have had several meetings, but its still unclear when and how it will be disbursed," Rustam said.

He said the bus operators had decided to reject the subsidy because of its ambiguity and to instead demand the increase in bus fares. (jun)