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