Jakarta bus fares to increase next week despite guel hike delay
Jakarta bus fares to increase next week despite guel hike delay
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite the central government's decision last month to delay the
fuel price hike, the Jakarta administration announced on Friday
it would increase bus fares next week.
"The decision (to increase the bus fares) will be made as soon
as possible. I hope it can be decided on next week," Governor
Sutiyoso said at City Hall after a meeting with the chairman of
the City Land Transportation Owners' Association (Organda), Aip
Syaifuddin.
Sutiyoso said Organda had proposed a 50-percent increase in
bus fares to help bus owners offset the rise in the price of fuel
and spare parts since last year.
The governor said a team led by City Transportation Agency
chief Rustam Effendy would conduct a study to determine by how
much bus fares would be increased.
"It will not be the 50 percent Organda has proposed," he said.
Although asking for a 50 percent increase, Aip said it was
more likely that fares would be increased by between 20 percent
and 30 percent.
Aip said the current bus fares were set in May of last year
when diesel fuel cost Rp 1,400 (US$1.50) a liter and the price of
a new tire was about Rp 1.1 million.
"We have not increased the fares since last year even though
the price of fuel and, especially, spare parts has increased
significantly," he said.
If Organda's proposal is approved, the increase would only be
valid for fares on mikrolet (public minivans), medium-sized buses
(Kopaja and Metromini), regular buses and limited buses. The new
fares for air-conditioned buses would be determined by market
mechanisms.
On Jan. 1 of this year, the government announced a
simultaneous increase in fuel prices, electricity rates and
telephone charges.
The price of premium gasoline went up from Rp 1,750 per liter
to Rp 1,810, while diesel fuel rose to Rp 1,890 from Rp 1,550 per
litter.
The government's decision sparked massive public
demonstrations across the country, with students, workers,
businesspeople and housewives taking part in rallies to protest
the price increases.
In response to the protests, the government canceled the
telephone rate increase and lowered the price of fuel last month.
The price for diesel fuel was cut to Rp 1,650 per liter from
Rp 1,890, while premium gasoline remains at Rp 1,810 per liter.
Almost all of the city's buses run on diesel fuel, while
public minivans take gasoline.
The city has 9,000 registered buses, but only 30 percent of
them are on the streets at any one time, with the remaining 70
percent being out of commission because of either age or
mechanical problems.
The city established a team, consisting of officials from the
City Transportation Agency, Organda and the Indonesian Consumers
Foundation, to asses the impact of the fuel price hike on the
operational costs of buses.
The team found that the fuel price hike did not trigger an
increase in the price of spare parts, noting that the price rise
for spare parts took place last year.
Fuel accounts for only 5 percent of the operational costs for
buses, while spare parts account for a much larger percentage.