Special team tickets 199 bus drivers, impounds 21 buses
JAKARTA (JP): The City Traffic and Land Transportation Control Office ticketed at least 199 bus crews and impounded 21 buses for various violations yesterday.
"The actual figure may be higher as we haven't yet received the complete reports from the mayoralties," agency spokesman, Herman Tonglo Langi, said yesterday, the third day of an operation to ensure that public buses keep their doors closed while in motion.
The provisional figures were based on data collected by the office as of 1 p.m. yesterday.
The police came up with a lower initial number of violators.
City Police spokesman Lt. Col. A. Latief Rabar said that as of yesterday afternoon, a total of 97 bus and minibus drivers were ticketed by a special joint team on streets in the Pasar Minggu area of South Jakarta, Cempaka Putih in Central Jakarta and Sunter Podomoro in North Jakarta.
"The actual number is probably slightly higher because we have not yet recorded those ticketed in other areas of the city," Latief told reporters.
He said that all the 97 violators admitted to the offense of driving with their doors open. They were asked to pay a Rp 20,000 (US$9.30) fine and a Rp 600 (30 US cents) administration fee per person as stipulated in Article 54 of Traffic Law Number 12 issued in 1992.
Of the number ticketed, 39 were drivers of Metro Mini minibuses, 27 of Mayasari Bakti buses, 17 of state-owned PPD buses and 14 of Kopaja minibuses, Latief said.
"So far the special team has not yet arrested any traffic violators," he said.
The team consisted of members from the Traffic Directorate of the City Police Headquarters and the Traffic and Land Transportation Control Office.
"This is not an operation but a routine task which has been intensified for the sake of public safety," Latief stressed.
During the enforcement drive, he said, the team stops any bus driver who has committed a violation and asks him and his conductor to show their respective identification documents before they sign the violation tickets.
"It just takes a couple of minutes for the team to complete the procedures without having to disturb the passengers," he said.
Fine
Violators are required to pay any fines later at the state- owned BRI bank.
Latief said that the routine checks will be continued indefinitely.
During the enforcement, the team has the authority to ticket public transit drivers who violate other traffic regulations.
Aside from the bus drivers, the team also ticketed 89 traffic violators for using the wrong lanes and 16 others for failing to have the required documents with them.
Herman said buses will be impounded if they have no doors or broken doors. A driver who closes his bus doors will still be ticketed if he drops off or picks up passengers at unauthorized places.
Herman admitted that there are still many bus drivers failing to observe the closed-door requirement, but who have not yet been netted in the operation. However, he claimed that there was already a visible shift in the attitude of bus drivers.
"It is impossible to have a complete change immediately. It will take time since it is a matter of changing the mentality of both the public and the drivers," he said.
He also said that his office will continue the operation and evaluate the results from time to time.
Legal Aid
Mulyana W. Kusumah, executive director the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, said that bus drivers are forced into reckless behavior, including driving with the open doors, because they are required to bring in a certain amount of bus rent for their companies.
The bus crews can bring home money only if they can collect more than the daily rent, Mulyana said.
"This system forces drivers to speed and keep their doors open, while the buses are moving so they can get as many passengers and make as many trips as possible," Mulyana said, adding that basic managerial adjustments are needed if the government wants to improve public bus service.
Calling the operation "a partial modification," Mulyana said that he supports it as a form of law enforcement.
Darius Djana, operations director of the state-owned PPD bus company, said that he had ordered his men to repair buses whose doors were broken.
"I can guarantee that our bus crew will close the doors while the bus is traveling," Darius said, adding that PPD fully supports the closed-door regulation.
A driver of the Masstrans bus company said that he fully supports the new regulation, adding that it will force passengers to get in and off buses at appointed bus stops.
"We have no problem following the requirement as it is a rule in our company to close the doors," said the driver who declined to be identified.
The driver said he could understand why many bus drivers found the requirement an imposition, because they were used to operating with open doors.
"I hope the government and bus companies will provide extensive training for those drivers to inform them of the positive side of the requirement." (bsr/05/09)