Soaring prices hit transportation sector

Soaring prices hit transportation sector

JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of public transportation vehicles have
stopped operating due to soaring prices of automobile spare parts
resulting from the economic crisis.

Antara reported from Medan in North Sumatra on Saturday that
40 percent of 12,000 buses and minibuses had stopped operating
because owners could not afford to buy replacement parts. A
similar situation has been reported in Bandung, West Java, while
drivers went on strike in Semarang, Central Java.

In Yogyakarta and surrounding areas, some public
transportation drivers have been on strike since last Wednesday,
disrupting many people's routines.

"The increase of auto parts' prices by up to 400 percent has
caused many public transportation owners to ground their
vehicles," said Eddy Rangkuti, spokesman of the Organization of
Land Transportation Owners in North Sumatra.

Rangkuti was quoted by Antara as saying in Medan that the
price of a Mercedes bus tire, for instance, had increased from Rp
580,000 (approximately US$58 at current rate) to Rp 1.2 million.

Rangkuti feared that if spare parts' prices continued to soar
in the next three months, almost all public transportation
vehicles would stop operations.

"What I regret is that the situation has not only brought
transportation companies to the brink of bankruptcy, but will
also bring difficulties to many people and students who need
transportation," Rangkuti said.

Rangkuti called on the government to help control the
skyrocketing prices of auto parts.

But, he said, the most important thing was to abolish various
official and unofficial levies on public transportation.

Rangkuti said the levies -- ranging from Rp 2,000 to Rp 4,000
daily per vehicle and which were collected either by government
officials or hoodlums -- were a burden to both drivers and
transportation owners.

In Semarang, Central Java, thousands of commuters were
stranded in the Terboyo main bus terminal as some 200 bus drivers
went on strike Friday over soaring prices of auto parts.

Ten military trucks and 10 buses were deployed by local
authorities to transport passengers. (byg)