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.