Jakarta needs 100,000 drivers

Jakarta needs 100,000 well-trained drivers to better serve the public, the Jakarta-chapter of the Land Transportation Owners' Organization (Organda) has announced.

The organization's chairman, Aip Sjarifuddin, said over the weekend that lack of trained drivers is one of the main reasons for poor service on the public transit vehicles.

"At the moment, a driver who is dismissed by one company due to a serious violation can easily get another job at other companies. We are not happy with this but we have no other choice except to hire them due to lack of well-trained drivers," Aip said.

Aip suggested that the city administration work hand in hand with Organda to train drivers in order to improve the service to the public.

Jakarta has around 170,000 public vehicles, both cargo and passenger, with a total of 4.5 million passengers a day, 800,000 of which are school children. (09)