Taxi drivers go on strike over rental fee hike

Taxi drivers go on strike over rental fee hike

JAKARTA (JP): Taxi drivers from the Centris Group went on
strike on Thursday, protesting the city-owned firm's decision to
increase the drivers' daily rental fee by 25 percent and to hike
passenger fares.

The demonstration came dangerously close to spiraling out of
control as the more than 100 drivers who were staging a rally at
the City Hall stopped Centris cabs which were passing along Jl.
Merdeka Selatan and smashed their windows for refusing to join
the strike.

They claimed that only 70 out of 1,600 cabs operated by the
firm, which is 60 percent owned by the city administration and 40
percent owned by former president Soeharto's daughter Siti
Hardijanti Rukmana's firm PT Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada, had
refused to join the strike.

The resentful drivers hurled stones at their non-striking
colleagues and smashed the windows of at least seven cabs after
they were stopped in front of City Hall.

Fortunately, no injuries were reported.

During a meeting with officials from the city administration,
the drivers' representatives demanded the company postpone the
rental fee increase.

One of the drivers, Amri Zein, said drivers were obliged to
pay the company Rp 125,000 (US$12.7) per day as of March 1.

Previously the rental fee was Rp 100,000.

"With the uncertain situation and decreasing number of
passengers, we cannot afford to pay the rental fee," Amri said at
the meeting which was also attended by officials from the city's
Land Transportation Agency (DLLAJ) and the Land Transportation
Owners' Association (Organda).

He said the drivers deplored the rental fee hike which was
claimed by the management to be an Organda decision.

He further said that the drivers also protested the firm's
decision to apply the new fare structure which has a flagfall of
Rp 3,000 while some taxi firms were still using the old flagfall
of Rp 2,000.

"All taxi firms should apply the same fare, whether it be the
new fare or the old fare. There should be no difference between
taxi drivers," Amri said.

An Organda official, Ishak Rumaidi, denied that the
association was obliging taxi firms to increase their rental fees
by 25 percent, saying that the increase had not yet been decided
upon.

"It depends on the firms, whether they want to increase the
rental fee within a range of between 10 percent and 25 percent,"
Ishak said.

The DLLAJ's deputy chief Abdul Hakim promised to speak to the
Centris Group's management to postpone the increase in the rental
fee.

"I hope by tomorrow, you will know the results of the meeting
and that there will be no increase," Hakim said.

Meanwhile the chief of the city's Public Order Office, Raya
Siahaan, said that the demand to apply the same taxi fares in all
cabs would be forwarded to Governor Sutiyoso upon his return from
the Haj pilgrimage.

Gubernatorial Decree No. 2503/2000 allows taxi companies to
raise the flagfall and increase the charge from Rp 900 per
kilometer to Rp 1,300 per kilometer. The waiting fee was also
increased from Rp 10,000 to Rp 13,000 per hour.

But taxi companies have been split on applying the new fare.

Taxi firms such as the Blue Bird group immediately applied the
new fares in September while other firms such as Kosti Jaya,
Steady Safe, Prestasi, Sri Medali and Queen Taxi are still
employing the old system.

A separate delegation of taxi drivers from Sri Medali and
Royal City Taxi also came to the City Council on Thursday to
lament their companies' decisions to also increase the rental
fees.

Slamet of Sri Medali Taxi said that management had increased
the daily rental fee by 20 percent from Rp 140,000 to Rp 168,000
despite the fact that the company was still applying the old
fares.

Driver Dadang of Royal City Taxi also protested his firm's 25
percent rental fee increase even though the new fare had yet to
be imposed.

Deputy speaker of the City Council's Commission D for
development affairs Saud Rahman promised to consider the drivers'
demands.

"We cannot decide this on our own. We should discus it with a
number of other parties, including the Ministry of Transportation
and Communications," said Saud of the United Development Party,
who received the drivers. (04/jun)