Minibus drivers fuming with overlapping routes

JAKARTA (JP): About 40 Kopaja minibus drivers protested at City Hall on Monday over lost business due to competition with wide-bodied buses on the same routes.

Arriving in 18 minibuses covered with protest banners, the drivers said they suffered huge financial losses because passengers preferred to use the larger buses, which also had cheaper fares.

The administration-set minibus fare is Rp 500, compared to Rp 300 on the large buses.

The protesters were drivers of Kopaja 502 -- which plies the Kampung Rambutan-Tanah Abang route -- and Kopaja 19 of the Ragunan-Tanah Abang route.

The demonstration's coordinator, Dian Sugianto, said there were 80 Kopaja 502 buses and 70 Kopaja 19 vehicles.

He believed Governor Sutiyoso should stop the operation of the large buses along the routes and issue them new licenses for operation on other routes to solve the dispute.

"If the present condition goes on, I am afraid that an undesirable incident will happen," he warned.

Dian also urged the administration to extend expired licenses of several drivers to enable them to return to regular operation.

"Up to now, the City Land Transportation Agency refuses to extend licenses for the operation of their minibuses, but their owners insist on continuing to operate them."

He said the refusal to extend the licenses was based on the 1995 Gubernatorial Decree No. 57, regulating the replacement of minibuses plying the city's major thoroughfares with large buses.

Dian said the governor should revoke the decree because it did not promote the rights of the needy.

A Kopaja 19 minibus driver, Rasito, said the drivers' income had dropped significantly since large buses began to ply the same route last year.

"Of course, their presence has made things difficult for us now that we are in the economic crisis."

His colleague, Utep, added that their income had dropped by about 50 percent. "Now it is quite good if a driver can get Rp 20,000 in one day." (ind)