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.