Idul Fitri bus fares raised by up to 100 percent
Idul Fitri bus fares raised by up to 100 percent
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The majority of bus companies at two major stations in the city
have raised their fares by up to 100 percent for the peak Idul
Fitri travel season, violating the government-set 20 percent cap
on fare hikes during the holiday.
Nearly all of the transportation companies operating from the
Kali Deres bus station in West Jakarta had raised their fares by
more than 20 percent on Friday. It was the same story at the Pulo
Gadung bus station in East Jakarta.
The government has set floor and ceiling fare rates for
economic-class buses for the seven days before and after Idul
Fitri, which falls on Dec. 6 and Dec. 7. These floor and ceiling
rates allow bus companies to lower and raise fares by 20 percent
from normal fares. While many of the companies were violating the
ceiling fare rate, none had cut their fares.
The government has drawn up sanctions for companies violating
the ceiling fare rate, with the maximum punishment being the
revocation of a company's operating permit.
"I paid Rp 90,000 for this ticket. But many passengers here
bought the same ticket for between Rp 60,000 and Rp 70,000," said
Munawaroh, a 20-year-old woman traveling to her hometown in Pati
regency, Central Java.
She was taking an economic-class bus owned by Jaya Bakti
Super, traveling from Jakarta to Blora regency in Central Java.
The normal fare for the trip is about Rp 45,000.
These markups are taking place at the terminal despite regular
warning from bus station officials that the government will take
stern measures against those violating the ceiling fares.
But Munawaroh refused to file a complaint with officials about
her marked-up ticket.
The head of the Pulo Gadung bus station, Pardjiman, said he
had not received any passenger complaints about increased fares,
but promised to crack down on any bus company that dared to raise
prices by more than 20 percent.
Buses leaving from Pulo Gadung go to nearly every major city
in Java and Sumatra, including Pati, Brebes, Kebumen, Semarang,
Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Bandar Lampung, Lahat, Palembang, Medan and
Banda Aceh.
The situation was even more dire at the Kali Deres station,
which serves mainly buses traveling to cities in Sumatra.
One dissatisfied customer, Agung, complained to bus station
chief Jhonny Barata that the price of his tickets was much higher
than the ceiling price set by the government.
He said the normal fare to Lahat in South Sumatra was Rp
75,000, but yesterday bus operator PO Garuda Dempo set the fare
at Rp 120,000.
"Although I already bought the tickets, I reported it in the
hope that it will not happen again," said Agung, whose tickets
are for Dec. 4.
An employee of PO Garuda Dempo, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said the new prices had been set by the company.
Other bus operators have made similar increases. PO Minangga
is charging passengers heading to Komring in South Sumatra Rp
110,000, from the normal fare of Rp60,000.
"I know from the newspapers that the fare increases were only
supposed to be 20 percent, so why are they so high here?" asked
one traveler at Kali Deres, Yahya.
Another traveler, Imron, had to pay Rp 65,000 each for two
tickets to Bandar Lampung aboard a bus owned by PO Indonesia
Mulia Indah.
But station chief Jhonny promised to keep a record of all
violations and report them to his superiors.