Surcharge for taxi?

Surcharge for taxi?

How long have the Soekarno-Hatta Airport authorities been
imposing a Rp 10,500 surcharge to take a taxi from the airport? I
wondered what was happening recently when police moved a Bluebird
taxi at the departure gate, which I was about to take having seen
off friends. It, along with all the others, had to return to the
city empty.

I had no choice but to take a taxi at the arrivals gate, with
the heavy surcharge on top of the taxi meter charge and the
tolls. Also, why are the surcharges scaled so that the short
trips, such as across West Jakarta to Kebon Jeruk are more
expensive than to say Bogor. The surcharges are for the airport,
aren't they, and not the taxi drivers?

The taxis at the arrivals gate are hardly an advertisement for
Jakarta. They are a rag-tag collection of rusting old bombs. The
better quality taxis such as Bluebird are hard to locate, as the
booking counter is inside the arrivals hall, and in the evenings
they ignore passengers not wanting Silver Bird taxis -- we can
take it or leave it.

Come on airport officials. We need tourists here, so don't try
to scare them off as soon as they arrive. Let's have some nice,
clean taxis which are readily available, and no more arguments
about ergometers not working and other fanciful stories. We're
not all on expat dollar salaries!

ADRIAN MARTIN

Jakarta