Polri to Summon All Taxi Companies in Wake of Train Accident in Bekasi

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The National Police Traffic Corps will summon all taxi companies or operators to discuss taxi service operational standards and procedures, in the aftermath of the train accident at Bekasi Timur Station in West Java, which killed over a dozen people and involved a taxi vehicle.

Director of Law Enforcement at the National Police Traffic Corps, Police Brigadier General Faizal, said in Jakarta on Thursday that the summons targets, in particular, taxis operating electric vehicles (EVs) to serve passengers.

The taxi operators will receive education, especially regarding mechanisms and compliance when crossing railway tracks.

“We have sent letters to all taxi business owners or passenger taxi vehicles, particularly those now using electric vehicles or EVs, to gather them,” Faizal said during a discussion on the Bekasi Timur train accident at the parliamentary complex in Jakarta.

According to him, the police also want to know the standards that taxi drivers should follow if their vehicle stops right in the middle of the railway tracks, especially for EV vehicles.

This is because non-EV vehicles or those with manual transmissions can be more easily pushed if they break down.

“Actually, electric vehicles, even when stopped, still have ways to move them; there are ways, definitely there are. Because the companies themselves, the manufacturers, have anticipated such situations,” he said.

In addition, Faizal will ask all taxi operators to re-educate all their drivers to handle high-risk accident moments, to avoid occurrences like the one at Bekasi Timur.

“Yes, not only to the drivers, but also to us here who might be using electric vehicles,” he said.

So far, Faizal added, the train accident case at Bekasi Timur Station is divided into two crime scenes (TKP): the first TKP is the accident between the KRL and the “green taxi,” and the second TKP is the accident between the KRL and the Argo Bromo Anggrek train.

“The first one is still being handled by colleagues from the Metro Police Traffic Directorate because it involves a traffic accident element. Then the second TKP is now being processed by colleagues from the Criminal Investigation Unit to see if there is any negligence or the like,” he said.