Hindarto says new public transit policy to stay in place
Hindarto says new public transit policy to stay in place
JAKARTA (JP): All public transportation vehicles, irrespective of their types, must keep their doors closed while in motion, Maj. Gen. Mochammad Hindarto, the City Police Chief, reiterated over the weekend.
"We will keep on implementing the policy requiring public transit vehicles to have their doors closed while in motion regardless of their types and sizes ," Hindarto said when closing briefing sessions for drivers in Serpong, a suburb of Jakarta.
Hindarto also announced that the police had arrested a man believed to have organized Friday's strike staged by hundreds of the 12-seat Mikrolet minibuses, which stranded thousands of passengers.
The police two-star general refused to divulge the identity of the suspect.
"What I can tell you is that he is a Mikrolet driver," Hindarto said, adding that the suspect forced other Mikrolet drivers to join the strike and asked their passengers to leave the minibuses.
However, on the same occasion, Herman Tonglo Langi, the head of the Transport Development Division of the City Land Transportation and Traffic Control Office, told reporters that the closed-door rule applies only to wide-bodied buses.
The contradictory statements show that the controversy on the closed-door rule is far from over, although practically all of the Mikrolet drivers serving the various routes to Kota, West Jakarta, ended their protest Saturday. They are back at work and as usual are plying their routes with the doors of their buses wide open while in transit.
On Friday, hundreds of them protested traffic control body's ruling which requires them keep their vehicles' doors closed while in motion.
They protested by refusing to allow passengers onto their buses. They closed their vehicles' doors and lined them up -- some deliberately positioned their vehicles to block streets -- in the Kota area, reportedly causing heavy traffic jams.
Eyewitnesses said the drivers began the peaceful protest at 9 a.m. and ended it one hour later after military and police personnel told them they could drive with the doors open.
Eyewitnesses said traffic was backed up between the Beos bus terminal up to Jl. Kali Besar and into the Glodok area until Friday afternoon.
Among the six Mikrolet services to Kota, M08 Mikrolet, which serve the Tanah Abang-Kota route, were the most frequently seen in the Kota area on Saturday.
Of the six, only M12 Mikrolet, on the Kota-Senen via Sawah Besar route, were not seen until 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Damiri, 37, a driver of a M12 Mikrolet, told the Post that he and his friends waited until 10 a.m. to see whether the police were going on with their ticketing.
"Some of my friends who are impatient went home. But as we learned that we will no longer be ticketed for not closing doors, we all drove again as usual," Damiri said.
First Lieutenant Koharudin, the commander of the Tamansari Traffic Police, a unit of the West Jakarta Traffic Police, when asked whether his office ticketed any Mikrolet buses Saturday, told the Post that as of Saturday his office had stopped ticketing Mikrolet drivers for ignoring the closed-door rule.
Instruction
When asked whether his office was going to apply the rule to Mikrolet again, Koharudin said that, "I have an instruction from my superior not to apply the rule to them until an unspecified date."
Koharudin refused to comment and referred all questions to Col. Police Hotman Siagian, the head of the traffic directorate of the city police, or to Maj. Police Y. Harsono of the West Jakarta Police office in Slipi.
Several drivers of M08-route Mikrolet told the Post they were no longer ticketed for disobeying the door ruling.
Drivers of M08 and M12 Mikrolet said the owners of their minibuses understood their protest and they were not required to pay the rental fees on Friday.
Sentosa said he earns about Rp 8,000 to Rp 10,000 a day on the average, after paying a rental fee of Rp 22,500 a day. Rents vary from Rp 18,000 to Rp 22,500 a day, depending on the age of the vehicles.
"Being ticketed often means that we have to borrow money," he complained.
Oni Sahroni, a driver, said that paying "peace money" or bribes to the police is better than being ticketed because the amount is less than the official fine. He also said that such dealings saved time and were practical. (06/Bsr)