DPR, govt approve 12% bus fare rise

Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Legislators and the government agreed on Wednesday to a 12 percent increase in intercity bus fares during the Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year holidays.

The 12 percent hike is less than the government's proposal of 20 percent and much lower than last year's increase of 25 percent.

"It is a final decision to provide better services to the public," Soemaryoto, chairman of House of Representatives Commission IV for transportation and telecommunications, said.

Speaking after a hearing with Director General of Land Transportation Sumaryono Soesilo, Soemaryoto said that the fare increase would be effective nationwide a week before and 10 days after Idul Fitri.

Soemaryoto said the fact that intercity bus fares were increased 20.5 percent in July had been taken into consideration when deciding to temporarily raise fares by 12 percent.

July's increase was to compensate for fuel price increases.

The temporary increase in intercity bus fares is designed to compensate for the empty seats on the return trips from each destination to Jakarta and other major cities.

It would be too much to increase the fares by another 20 percent, he said.

Sumaryono said that the government accepted the decision even though he expressed concern that it might discourage bus operators from improving their services.

"We fully understand that this is a final decision, but we fear that it will not encourage bus operators to improve their services," he said, adding that the proposed 20 percent increase had been agreed upon jointly with Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) earlier.

The commission urged the government to act firmly against any bus operators who violate ruling.

"We hope the government will be firm on this fare increase. Just revoke their (bus operators) licenses if they violate the ruling," Soemaryoto remarked.

He further urged bus operators to abide by the decision and provide improved services for passengers.

The Ministry of Transportation estimates that around 16 million people will be traveling home from various destinations during the holiday period. About 65 percent of them will use buses as their mode of transportation.

The government will provide 27,783 buses in 28 bus terminals across the country. An additional 1,976 buses will stand by to meet excess demand.

Meanwhile, major state-run transportation companies revealed that they anticipate a jump in the number of passengers during the holidays.

Bachrul Hakim, business director of national flag carrier Garuda, said the company would increase its capacity by up to 36,507 from 29,626 seats without changing air fares.

Badar Zaini, general manager of railway company PT KAI, said that the number of train passengers was expected to increase 7 percent from 3.2 million last year to 3.4 million.

PT KAI will increase its capacity by up to 23 percent from 115,000 seats per day to 140,004 per day.

Isnoor Hariyanto, general manager of ship company PT Pelni, said that his company had 29 ships to transport passengers across the archipelago.

"By Dec. 1, all the ships will be in full operation," Isnoor said, adding that Pelni would also get seven additional ships from the Navy.