New transport fares to be announced Monday
New transport fares to be announced Monday
Damar Harsanto and Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Uncertainties over public transportation fares in the wake of the
29 percent fuel price hike will likely end on Monday.
City Transportation Council (DTK) chairman Sutanto Soehodho
acknowledged that the transportation council had reached a final
decision on the issue.
"But, we cannot disclose it right now. Please, wait until
after our meeting with Governor Sutiyoso on Monday," Sutanto told
The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Sources familiar with the decision have said that the proposed
increase would be by at least 13 percent.
Chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the Organization of Land
Transportation Owners (Organda) Herry JC Rotty said the
association had submitted its proposal to increase fares to the
administration last Friday.
"We have requested an increase higher than the 10 percent
increase we proposed earlier as we have to take into account
other things, like auto parts, lubricant consumption and the
salaries of public transportation crew," Herry said.
City spokesman Catur Laswanto said the administration had told
the DTK to conclude its discussion over the proposed tariff
increase by Monday "so that we can present our recommendation to
the City Council."
Catur said that the City Transportation Agency had carried out
a preliminary study to determine the appropriate percentage to
raise fares by.
"The study will be compared against Organda's proposal," Catur
said.
The government raised fuel prices by an average of 29 percent
last week, but also increased spending in other sectors,
including health and education, to increase access to these for
the country's poor.
The impact of the fuel price hike has prompted hundreds of
public transportation drivers to hold a mass strike, leaving
thousands of commuters stranded.
The drivers demanded that the administration raise public
transportation fares by an average of 15 percent to weather the
impact of the fuel price hike, which they said would slash their
income by nearly 50 percent.
Many passengers have also reported that some crews of public
buses and vans unilaterally raised their fares by 10 percent to
15 percent following the fuel price increase.
On Saturday, around 2,000 demonstrators staged a protest in
front of State Palace to demand that President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono reverse the government's decision to raise fuel prices.
The protesters, members of the Hizbut Tahir Indonesia Islamic
group, said that the fuel price hike would only result in more
poverty.