DLLAJ too lenient over route permit policy, expert says

DLLAJ too lenient over route permit policy, expert says

BANDUNG (JP): A three-day strike by bus drivers in the city
last week was caused because the City Land Transportation Agency
(DLLAJ) was too lax in issuing route permits, a transportation
expert said here Saturday.

Sony Sulaksono Wibowo of the Bandung Technology Institute
(ITB) said the agency was authorized to issue permits but "in
reality bus company owners can also influence (permit issuance),"
Sony, a member of a study team on the city's transportation
system, told The Jakarta Post.

After a presentation of the study results he said bus company
owners regarded certain routes as more profitable and were
determined to gain as much profit as possible by increasing the
number of buses on those routes.

Owners would then approach the agency to obtain new permits,
he said. Considering the increasing need of consumers, the agency
might fulfill the request. But social and economic factors,
including competition between drivers, needed more attention, he
said.

"The agency sometimes does not consider social factors in
implementing the transportation guidelines," Sony said, adding
that the agency's guidelines for permits' issuance still lacked
recognition of factors like competition between drivers.

"The result is a split between bus companies owners, between
those who make a large profit and those whose profits were
reduced after the permits' issuance. This led to (last week's)
strikes and protests," Sony said.

The strike involved at least 2,000 drivers on the Kebayoran
Lama to Tanah Abang route and drivers on similar routes to Kebun
Jeruk and Meruya Ilir. They said the strike was sparked by new
competition from a cooperative who was given a permit to ply the
route from Grogol River in West Jakarta to Kreo in South Jakarta
which overlapped their routes and passed through Kebayoran Lama.

Similar strikes were staged by drivers plying the Senen-Kota
route, the Tanjung Priok-Cilincing route and the Kampung Melayu
to Pulogadung route. New competition from new buses were said to
be the cause in each case.

Soni urged the agency and bus owners to find a speedy solution
to the problems.

Rojikin, who drives a no. D02 bus from Lebak Bulus, South
Jakarta, to Ciputat, Tangerang, said drivers had to pay daily
levies of Rp 2,200. Daily payments to bus owners were Rp 35,000,
he said.

"Drivers are restless now because we hear that there will be
additional D02 buses." Drivers had heard a private company had
also gained a permit to start an air-conditioned route charging
the lowest Rp 300 fare instead of the regular Rp 1,800 for air-
conditioned buses, he said.

Earlier this year drivers on the route staged a strike because
Organda, the organization of public transport company owners, had
started charging new fees, saying the fees would replace illegal
levies.

"Getting rid of the levies is impossible," Rojikin said. He
said those drawing levies, men called 'timers,' "work for the
police."

The joint study between the city and ITB among others aimed to
evaluate the effectiveness of the number of buses operating in
the city based on the number of users and bus companies. The
study also proposed changing several existing city bus routes in
areas where they overlapped. (ste/anr)