Taxi drivers suffer economic fallout from Bali blasts

Taxi drivers suffer economic fallout from Bali blasts

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The bombing in Bali has reverberated all the way back to Jakarta,
where taxi drivers are feeling the effects of the attack.

The blast, which killed almost 200 people, many of them
foreign tourists, shook the image that parts of Indonesia at
least were safe for foreigners.

Thousands of foreign tourists fled the island shortly after
the attack and many countries promptly issued travel warnings for
Indonesia.

The travel warnings and the exodus of foreigners has had a
particularly hard impact on drivers of Silver Bird taxis, many of
whose passengers are foreigners.

"It has been very drastic. I can't say how large the decrease
has been but we consider it very lucky if we can still bring some
money home," Wasito, who has been driving taxis for about 10
years, said on Tuesday.

"Most of our customers are foreigners and now they have either
left the country or are keeping low after the blast."

Another Silver Bird driver, Sumardi, said most Westerners
lumped Islam together with terrorism, causing many foreigners to
cancel trips to Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim
country.

"Now we can only get less than Rp 200,000 (US$21) a day, far
below our daily target of Rp 390,000.

"We can only bring home some money if we can get more than Rp
300,000, which is quite difficult," said Sumardi.

The Blue Bird taxi group, which manages Silver Bird, uses a
commission system where drivers receive a percentage of their
daily earnings. The larger the earnings, the larger the
commission.

Another taxi driver said the number of local passengers had
also fallen since the Bali attack.

"I have not had any foreign passengers since the blast. Even
the local ones are getting hard to find," said Herman from
Liberty Taxi.

"I guess most Jakarta residents are keeping low after the
blast and reducing unnecessary visits to public places such as
malls."

There have been at least 20 bomb hoaxes in Jakarta since the
Bali bombing.

But Herman said he was still able to meet the revenue target
set by the company and could "bring home some money for my family
every day".

He, however, admitted that there was a decrease in income.

"Usually, I could bring in some Rp 3 million for the company
before the blast. Now, I can only get some Rp 2 million."

Meanwhile, Solichin of Express Taxi said he was not suffering
much from the blast, claiming to be able to bring home at least
Rp 50,000 daily.

"There were two or three slow days after the blast but now I
am busy with passengers.

"Therefore, I do not have any difficulty in meeting the target
of Rp 95,000 set by the company," said Solichin, who drives an
old Ford Laser taxi.

Solichin, however, said that those who drive newer Toyota
Soluna taxis may find it difficult to meet their daily revenue
target of almost Rp 200,000.