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)