People should reject bus fire increase: YLKI

JAKARTA (JP): People should boycott the fare hike imposed by air-conditioned buses in Greater Jakarta as it is too large, a consumer activist said here on Tuesday.

Indonesia Consumers Foundation (YLKI) general secretary Retno Widiastuti said that many people had filed complaints with YLKI claiming that the new fares were a financial strain.

Retno said that, basically the fare hike should have been approved by the Jakarta governor and City Council because it concerned public welfare.

The City Council should summon the city administration and the Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda), which announced the fare hike on Wednesday, to discuss the fares, she told The Jakarta Post.

Organda announced on Wednesday that it had decided to raise the fare from Rp 2,500 (US$0.30) to Rp 3,300, ignoring Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso's demand that the fare should only be increased to Rp 3,000. The new fare became effective on Thursday.

According to Organda chairman Aip Sjarifuddin, the administration and the City Council had approved the proposal for the new fares. He said that passengers had to pay another Rp 100 if the buses used toll roads.

Five bus operators implementing the new tariff include Mayasari Bakti, PPD, Bianglala, Steady Safe and Pahala Kencana.

Retno said that people were actually forced to pay more than Rp 3,300, as quite often the conductors of public buses did not have Rp 200 in change if passengers only had three Rp 1,000 banknotes and one Rp 500.

"It is not fair," she said.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Transportation Society chairman Suyono Dikun insisted that both Organda and the administration had no right to increase the bus fare.

"Neither of them are authorized. People should decide on the bus fares," he told the Post.

Suyono suggested the establishment of an independent organization to decide the bus fare hike, comprising bus passengers, non-governmental organizations dealing with transportation issues, scholars and Organda.

Separately, one passenger of an air-conditioned bus plying the Depok-Kota route said that she did not agree with the fare hike, however, she couldn't do anything about it because it had already been decided and adopted by bus management.

She pointed to a sticker on the bus door stating the fare hike. "It is too much. Look, the air conditioning is not even working properly," she told the Post in anger.

Another passenger, Dedi, an employee of a private company in Jl. Sudirman, said that the bus fare hike was not "reasonable".

"I don't know the grounds for the hike. Organda and the administration are just the same, they only think about their own interests," he asserted.

City Land Transportation and Traffic Control Agency (DLLAJR) head Rustam Effendy said that bus operators must improve their services, including air-conditioning facilities as well as limiting the number of passengers.

Data from DLLAJR revealed that, up until March, there were some 1,078 air-conditioned buses from a total of 5,000 buses operating in Greater Jakarta. (04)