Taxi fares yet to be increased: Sutiyoso
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso ordered the Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) on Friday to take action against any taxi operators found charging new taxi fares, as an official announcement for the fare hike has not been issued yet.
"The agency must take action against any taxis charging passengers with the new fare because I haven't given my official approval yet," Sutiyoso announced on the sidelines of his visit to the Kedoya social rehabilitation center in West Jakarta.
"I agreed to a planned fare hike because my administration understands their (taxi operators) difficulties. But they cannot implement it yet," he said.
Through Gubernatorial Decree No. 2503 dated Aug. 22, 2000, the administration agreed to hike the flag fall from Rp 2,000 (25 U.S. cents) to Rp 3,000, and the charge per kilometer from Rp 900 to Rp 1,300. The waiting fee will also increase from Rp 10,000 to Rp 13,000 per hour.
Most passengers were surprised to learn on Friday that taxi fares were hiked without any notice.
"It's crazy because there hasn't been any official announcement," Siti Darojah, a resident living in the Permai area of Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post.
"I usually spend about Rp 14,000 to go from my house to City Hall, but today I had to pay Rp 20,000," she said, referring to her ride in a Blue Bird taxi.
A female employee at an office in the Kota area of West Jakarta, said she preferred to wait for the bus, although it was always crowded.
"I used to take a taxi if I was waiting a long time for a bus. But I don't dare now because I will have to pay so much more for a taxi," said Ailin, who lives in the Gunung Sahari area of Central Jakarta.
A driver of the Citra taxi company said, however, that his company had yet to implement the fare hike.
"There hasn't been any announcement from the office. We are still charging passengers with the old fare. The fare hike was only a trick by the Blue Bird group to get a larger share of the passengers," P. Panjaitan told the Post.
"The rate hike will only benefit the companies' executives and owners, not us drivers," he said.
A Blue Bird taxi driver, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said the management had increased the minimum daily rental of a taxicab to Rp 310,000 from Rp 214,000, due to the fare hike.
Drivers also said the number of passengers had also declined.
Citra Taxi seems to have been the only major company to maintain the old fare.
A telephone operator at Kosti Jaya, Selly, said the company had applied the new fare.
"But we haven't changed all our meters yet. We provide each taxi with a table of the old and new fares which was provided by Organda for all the taxi companies in the city," she said.
"Organda sells the table at Rp 2,500 each," she added.
Selly also said her company allowed the passengers to bargain with the driver to use the old or new fare.
The Blue Bird Group, a major taxi operator, has also applied the new fare although not all their meters have been adjusted.
"We provide our drivers with the table to help them calculate the new fare," said an employee, Cory.
Separately, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications Agum Gumelar instructed all transportation operators to honor their commitment to improve services after the increase in fares.
"The increase in transportation fares, which took effect today (Friday), has run well. Operators should pay more attention to people's need for better transportation," Gumelar was quoted by Antara as saying on Friday.
The minister also called on operators to improve the welfare of their employees as well as efficiency in public transportation management.
City administration records show there are some 22,000 taxis operating in the city out of some 24,000 taxi licenses granted to 30 taxi operators. (nvn/ind)