Number of cheap buses drops by more than half
Number of cheap buses drops by more than half
JAKARTA (JP): The number of operable buses on which fares are Rp 300 (US 13 cents) has dropped by 50 percent as the owners have no funds to maintain and repair the broken down vehicles, transport officials claim.
"Owners do not have the funds to repair their buses," said Aip Syarifuddin, chairman of the association of public transportation owners (Organda) said yesterday.
He confirmed that in the past year the number of regular buses such as Metro Mini and Kopaja has dropped, though he could not give a number.
In a separate development, Juhdi, the head of the transportation business section of the city's Land Transport Control Agency also said that the number of both state-owned and privately-owned regular buses has decreased by 50 percent in the last 12 months.
Juhdi said that of the city's 20,215 buses there are 16,678 on which fares are Rp 300.
"Private owners ask us for business permits to operate express buses, as operating regular buses is no longer profitable," Juhdi said.
He said that the number of state-owned regular buses, PPD, has dropped from 1,479 to 664 buses.
The officials were responding to passengers' complaints that regular buses have been hard to find lately.
Passengers said there are an increasing number of express buses charging Rp 550.
Both Aip and Juhdi said separately that owners could not repair the regular buses because the operational and maintenance costs are so high.
Public transport owners have been practicing "cannibalism," he added.
"We take good parts of damaged buses and use them on those in relatively better condition."
"Of every two buses only one can be used," he said.
In a recent meeting with Organda, Haryanto told them that fares are not decided by the Ministry alone but by several other government bodies.
In 1995 Organda proposed significant hikes in bus fares to the Ministry of Transportation. They wanted the Rp 300 fare (US 13 cents) to rise to Rp 500.
The proposal met strong opposition from councilors, drivers and passengers, who said owners were only after greater profits.
Aip said, however, Organda still hopes fares can be raised in April, but the government has not given them the green light.
"Minister Haryanto Dhanutirto told us to be patient," Aip said. (anr)