Drivers protest route overlaps

TANGERANG (JP): Dozens of minivan drivers have staged a protest at the local office of the Land Transportation Agency (DLLAJ) here, demanding that chronic route overlap be sorted out as soon as possible.

They also urged officers to take stern measures against minivan drivers whose route was overlapping with theirs or who frequently took the law into their own hands by forcefully stopping them, asking the passengers to get out and preventing them from plying their routes.

The protesting drivers were operating minivans G-06 that ply the Cikokol-Sangiang route. About 2 kilometers of their route overlap with minivan R-06 on Jl. Imam Bonjol.

"We're frequently intimidated by minivan R-06 drivers, not to continue our services, as they claim that the overlapped route is theirs," Sarman, one of the protesters, said on Wednesday.

The intimidation was unfair, he said, as G-06 minivans were not the only vehicles serving the routes. There were other public transportation vehicles, including AJA buses and Mayasari Bhakti, passing along the route as well, he said.

Adeng Rustandi, a managing officer of the agency's Tangerang office, said after a meeting with representatives of the protesters, that his office would try to settle the problem as soon as possible. (41/hhr)