New bus permits 'not based on needs'

JAKARTA (JP): The Chairman of the Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) said yesterday that the addition of permits for new vehicles was not based on apparent needs.

This was one weakness in public transportation management which led to last week's strikes, Aip Syarifuddin said in a press release yesterday.

"Severe competition," he said, has led vehicle owners "to try every possible way to get lucrative routes", but he did not elaborate.

The result of new permits issued, he said, was that new vehicles operated in or near existing, lucrative routes overcrowded with passengers.

Another weakness in transportation management was lack of supervision away from bus terminals, he said, which has resulted in the mushrooming of minivans with no route permits operated by unregistered drivers.

Rumors

Although there may have been third parties and rumors of new buses plying similar routes, he said, Organda had recognized the above weaknesses.

The organization also admitted that many owners used permits to operate new vehicles on already crowded routes, while operating their old minivans with the same permits, because the routes were very profitable.

Aip also said that a special team on bus routes from the City Land Transportation Agency (DLLAJ) had held their first meeting Thursday.

"To prevent similar incidents happening again, the team has agreed to meet once a week," he said. The meetings aim to make sure that increases in permitted vehicles on routes are based on thorough considerations.

"Insya Allah (God willing), Organda will always pay attention to the welfare of drivers...and the interest of passengers," Aip said.

For the past few weeks, bus and minivans drivers have demanded Organda and DLLAJ act more transparently in issuing route permits and make known the number of vehicles allowed on certain routes. They said DLLAJ was too lenient in issuing permits.

A councilor of the United Development Party, Djafar Badjeber, has accused DLLAJ of "collusion" with bus owners in the issuance of permits.

J.P. Sepang, DLLAJ's chief, said the agency had not issued permits for new routes in the past two years.

Sepang said new vehicles were added to cover routes which had not been covered before. (10)