Run-down taxis and rogue drivers

Run-down taxis and rogue drivers

JAKARTA (JP): Arriving home from a trip overseas I stepped out
of the Soekarno Hatta International Airport to find myself
without a means of transportation back to town.

Hot, sticky, and jet lagged from the trip, I had expected to
jump into a decent air-conditioned taxi and ride home, free from
hassles.

Unfortunately that was not to be the case. After surveying the
taxi queue I was dismayed to find that the multi-colored taxis
lining up at the airport's entrance all had a sinister look about
them.

Battered, weather-beaten taxis, driven by sloven drivers,
their shirts unbuttoned, looking as weather-beaten as their
vehicles.

Still I looked around, waiting for something better. Nothing,
nothing, nothing. Several prospective taxis just whizzed away
without stopping.

A glimpse of hope came with the slowing down of what seemed to
be a relatively new cab. I started to hail the cab, but a whistle
from a security guard quickly dissipated that hope.

"Miss, that's not allowed!" he said as he quickly motioned the
cab away. I looked on in annoyance, wondering why it was
forbidden to ride in a decent looking taxi.

Finally I braved the taxi queue with its scruffy-looking
drivers. One of them approached and asked where I was going. I
told him my destination and he said, "it would have to be
borongan (a price settled upon after bargaining) miss, no meter.
It'll cost Rp 70,000 (about $6.45) including the toll fee."

I frowned; not only was the fee too steep for my destination,
as far as I knew, taxis without meters were illegal. I refused,
frowning. By that time I was not only annoyed, but also close to
tears. I had been standing around for close to 15 minutes!

As the night drew on without any hope of finding a decent
ride, I again braved the taxi queue, noting beforehand that the
cab driver who had tried to offer me a ride with a borongan price
had driven off with an unlucky victim.

The next cab in line was pretty clean from the outside, and
the driver did not try to shoot me with outrageous prices.

I stepped in, told him my destination, and he presented me
with a surcharge ticket for Rp 10,500 to be paid on arrival. I
was speechless.

I sat back, trying to calm my mind, convincing myself that it
was just one of those days.

Suddenly a baby cockroach scurried past me, just missing my
hand on the car seat. I half shrieked. The driver never took any
notice.

I ran my eyes all through the interior of the car, watching in
dismay as another baby cockroach approached my feet. I stamped on
the little bugger but it was too fast. Baby or not, a cockroach
is not my idea of a fun travel companion. Aarrrggggghhhhhhh!!!

Since there are many decent taxis driving around in the
capital I wondered why none were ever available at the airport;
the very gateway to Indonesia, where foreign tourists make their
first impression of the country.

Do we really want to give an image of battered taxis, on top
of the already damaging image of riots and bickering among us?

On another such trip, I left Soekarno-Hatta by literally
outrunning a security guard to a cab that quickly drove off
before I had the door properly shut.

The chagrined guard gave the cab a vicious bang on the door
with his nightstick as a parting shot.

I felt like a crook hightailing it from the scene of a crime.

As I found out, taxis without an authorized airport sticker
weren't allowed to pick up customers there. Unfortunately, those
that do are dubious and aren't very presentable.

"If we get authorization, the other cabs won't have a chance
(to compete against us), miss," the driver told me, explaining
why there were no decent cabs at the airport and why he had to
play cat and mouse with the security guard.

So there was this discrimination that forbids popular cab
companies from having airport authorization and stealing a piece
of the pie from the other taxi companies.

Yet, there are very good and rational explanations why some
companies are popular and others are not.

The quality of its taxi fleet and the courteousness of its
drivers, are only two such factors.

After all, with the crime rate at an alarmingly high level in
the capital, who wants to risk getting into a dubious cab?

So where is this hospitality that we are so famed for? If
tourists and foreign businessmen are greeted with run-down taxis
and rogue drivers upon entering the country, I don't think there
is any left.

Besides, isn't restricting some companies while giving
privileges to others considered an unfair business practice?
After all it is business, and everything in business is about
competition.

In the end, it is the market that decides. And in the
meantime, why not let overseas travelers see that here in
Indonesia not all is bad and run-down.

-- Tantri Yuliandini