Public bus categories cut for better services
JAKARTA (JP): The city administration will cut public bus categories from three to two to improve services, the City's Land Transportation Agency announced yesterday.
The Patas bus category is to be scrapped. This bus service has often been the target of public outrage because although people pay more for a seat and good service, the buses are often overcrowded and provide a poor service.
Over 1,730 Patas buses operate throughout the city this month, according to transport agency figures.
The agency currently groups bus services into three categories: regular, Patas and air-conditioned Patas. The services are to be reconsolidated into economy and non-economy classes.
Air-conditioned Patas buses fall under the non-economy service and all other bus services are grouped under the economy class.
Currently, a regular bus ticket costs Rp 300, a Patas ticket costs Rp 700 and an air-conditioned Patas ticket costs Rp 1,800.
Irzal Z. Djamal, deputy head of the transport agency, acknowledged yesterday that Patas buses had failed to live up to their operating slogan -- fast with limited passengers.
"We hope that after the reorganization supervising the bus service will be simplified," he said.
Irzal refused to say when the new policy would take effect because the agency is still studying the effects of the move.
According to the City Land Transportation Agency (DLLAJ), Jakarta has a 15,731-strong registered public transportation fleet, which ranges from minivans to buses.
PT Mayasari Bakti, PT Giri Indah, PT Metro Mini, PT Kopaja and PT Mikrolet are among 20 major transportation companies listed by the agency.
Irzal said that economy class buses make up 60 percent of the fleet. The remaining 40 percent consists of non-economy class vehicles.
He promised the administration would strive to ensure buses do not carry more than their stated capacity of passengers.
Fares raise
On Thursday, chief of the city transportation office Iskandar Abubakar said the government would raise city bus fares to save transport operators from bankruptcy,
The government is still calculating by how much the fares should be increased, but Iskandar guaranteed the raise "will not squeeze peoples' income."
He told Antara Thursday that current fare levels were no longer realistic because of the inflationary effect of the monetary crisis.
An estimated 30 percent of Jakarta's 70,000 buses are currently inoperable because owners cannot afford to buy spare parts and pay for maintenance.
In the current economic climate, bus fares of Rp 300 would have to be raised to approximately Rp 1,000, assuming a gasoline price of Rp 700 per liter.
The government plans to increase fuel prices when the 1998/1999 state budget takes effect next month.
But Iskandar added that it would be "impossible" to raise bus fare by this much, when the general public was already facing financial hardships.
"The dilemma is that if the increase is not significant, transport companies will go bankrupt and the public will lose their services," he said.
An alternative solution would be for the government to abolish the myriad legal and illegal levies imposed on bus companies. The financial burden of these fees has often been blamed for the high cost of public transport operations.
Among steps the government is considering taking is to simplify the procedure of obtaining a license to open new routes and scrapping the numerous fees drivers have to pay inside and outside bus stations.
Separately, chairman of the Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) Suyono Dikun said he agreed that scrapping illegal levies would be the best way to start overcoming the transportation problem.
The next step, he said, would be to reorganize the city transportation system and improve its efficiency.
MTI and the Ministry of Communication will discuss how to determined the new fares and how much they will be, Suyono said. (ind/pan)