Taxi driving, Jakarta style

Taxi driving, Jakarta style

If recent reports are anything to go by, Governor Sutiyoso's dream of making Jakarta a more livable, people-friendly city seems to be a long way off.

The increasing hardship of many residents in the capital is running parallel with a steady rise in crime.

A series of recent high-profile robberies committed by taxi drivers in the city are just a few examples of the abundant street crime in our densely populated capital.

Two of these robberies by taxi drivers -- both committed against women passengers -- took place last week.

The first occurred on the evening of April 14, when a woman taking a taxi on Jl. Jendral Sudirman, close to her office, was robbed by the taxi driver of her laptop, cellular phone, ATM card and Rp 200,000 in cash. The driver dumped her in Rawamangun, East Jakarta.

While police were still puzzling over that crime, a similar offense took place the next evening.

Asyas Tasya Mustika, who was in the seventh month of her pregnancy, took a taxi from Jl. Melawai Raya in Blok M at about 8:30 p.m. to go home to Jagakarsa. To her surprise the taxi stopped on Jl. Fatmawati. In seconds, three strange men got in the cab and together with the driver forced her to surrender her belongings and reveal her ATM card numbers.

She was later attacked by one robber, who was upset after learning that she had given a false ATM number.

The robbers made away with jewelry and cash worth some Rp 7 million and the woman was dropped in Cibubur, East Jakarta.

Two similar robberies took place in North Jakarta the previous week. Nothing, it seems, changes.

Less dangerous but more annoying is the fate that befalls passengers when they don't know the exact location they want to go to.

Travelers unfamiliar with Jakarta streets often face tedious, time-wasting strategies, even when they clearly ask to go to an obvious landmark like a five-star hotel.

"Which way do you want me to take?" is a common question asked by the driver and is often a pretext to identify green passengers. Sometimes the driver claims to be a newcomer himself to Jakarta and this becomes the excuse for an impromptu "city tour". The driver only drives directly to the location after the meter shows a certain amount.

The taxis operating at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, meanwhile, are in a class of their own. Many people have complained about what is effectively extortion by the drivers, who force the unwary to pay between Rp 70,000 and Rp 150,000 for a Rp 35,000 ride into the central city. These rip-offs continue without the airport authority or the city administration seemingly interested in dealing with them.

For foreigners who first come to Jakarta, these unscrupulous taxi drivers, who care little about the negative impact they have on tourism, are their first introduction to what might be called Jakarta "taxi trauma".

The city, with at least its 10 million population, is now home of around 21,000 taxis owned by at least 30 operator companies. Most operators are companies while only about five individual owner-operator groups.

There has been no studies of the ideal ratio between the number of cabbies and the population. However, the administration's most-common explanation for letting a large amount of taxis operate in the city is that it helps tourism.

Developing tourism and curbing crime are two interrelated goals and a serious reform of the taxi industry would effectively kill two birds with one stone.

With increased tourism, the administration hopes to create jobs and increase city revenue. But first it must crack down on the people that threaten tourism development.

Many taxi drivers who attack their passengers are not permanent staff. These unregistered drivers are usually friends of the registered driver, whose ID is put on the dashboard. The unregistered driver then borrows the taxi if they need cash. The registered driver usually gets a small kickback for the use of the cab.

Only drivers of certain taxis can get up to such mischief. The only way for a passenger to ensure their safety is to dial a taxi operator of good repute.

But staying safe in the city should not just be about passengers protecting themselves. It is high time for the police, the administration, the consumer protection agency and taxi operators to sit down together to find better ways to regulate the service.

Banning vehicles in a shabby condition could be one step to improving the service to passengers. But any ban would be meaningless unless it is properly and rigorously enforced.

Consistent operations targeting unregistered taxi drivers are also a must.

Only when our streets are safe from dodgy taxi drivers, will Sutiyoso's dream emerge from the city smog.