Sutiyoso to announce new bus fares next week

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso said on Friday he would announce the new bus fares as soon as he received the official recommendation letter from the City Council, which is expected sometime early next week.

The governor said that as of Friday afternoon his office had not received the recommendation letter from the council, which on Thursday approved a hike in city bus fares.

"Once we receive the letter, we'll be able to set the new fares and publicly announce them.

"If I receive the letter on Monday, we will make the official announcement the following day," Sutiyoso said during a break in a working meeting with six governors from Bali, Java and Lampung at the Mitra Praja building in Sunter, North Jakarta.

He, however, did not say if the new rates would take effect the same day they were announced.

Separately, the head of the City Traffic and Land Transportation Agency, Buyung Atang, said the planned fare hike could become effective by May 1.

"It, however, depends on the governor's decision. It's up to him to decide when the new fares will be effective," Buyung said after meeting with Sutiyoso earlier in the morning.

According to him, the city administration officials overseeing the fare hike are still calculating the figures.

The city administration last year proposed to the council that bus fares be increased from Rp 300 to Rp 500 for regular buses; Rp 500 to Rp 700 for minibuses; Rp 700 to Rp 900 for Patas buses; Rp 2,300 to Rp 2,500 for Patas AC buses; and Rp 100 to Rp 200 for student fares.

The Organization of Land Transportation Owners submitted a proposal calling for fares to be increased to Rp 1,000 for regular buses, Rp 1,200 for minibuses, Rp 3,250 for Patas AC and Rp 500 for student fares.

But Buyung said the organization had decided to comply with the new fares issued by the city administration.

He said the City Council had also approved the administration's proposal temporarily to stop collecting three separate levies from bus companies. The levies, collected every six months, are the Rp 134,000 for use of city bus terminals, Rp 100,000 for a route operation license and Rp 20,000 for vehicle road-worthiness tests.

Sutiyoso also said the city administration would temporarily allow Patas buses, which are meant to be express buses and serve a limited number of passengers, to continue to operate before the authorities banned them from the streets.

"We'll give them one or two years before they are converted into regular or Patas AC buses. The conversion will depend on the condition of the bus," he said.

Initially, the administration planned to prohibit the Patas buses from operating immediately after the new fares became effective.

Buyung, however, said it was unlikely the companies would convert their Patas buses into Patas AC buses.

"The conversion is very expensive because they have to install air-conditioning units. The cost can reach some Rp 150 million," he said, adding that it was more feasible to convert them into regular buses.

Buyung was pleased with the governor's announcement that Patas bus owners would be given time to continue to operate their buses. "The two-year transition period will enable bus companies to make their own decision."

The council approved the proposed fare increases on Thursday, but asked bus companies to improve their safety, security and service. (09/nvn)