Telephone lines for ojek service

JAKARTA (JP): Do you urgently need becak (pedicab) or ojek (motorcycle taxi) service at residential complexes on Jakarta's outskirts? Don't worry. Just order it by phone!

No kidding. The South Jakarta office of state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom has thus far installed 166 public telephone lines to help improve such transportation service.

Under the program dubbed "Hello ojek, hello becak", most of the 166 phone lines have been set up in Tangerang subdistricts, which are covered by Telkom's South Jakarta office.

The public telephones were installed in strategic locations near roads leading to residential complexes in Cileduk, Ciputat and Pamulang subdistricts.

The special characteristics of these public telephones is that they can make calls as well as receive calls

Pamulang residents, from housewives to the employed, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that they found the phones helpful given the difficulty in finding public transport to and from their housing complexes.

"With the public phones I can call a becak driver to fetch me at my house," said Sukarni, a resident of Pamulang Permai housing complex.

Hadiyatna, an ojek driver, said he also benefited from the public phones. "I've received more orders than ever before since the public phones were installed here," said the driver, who operates in Pondok Benda village, Pamulang subdistrict.

Other ojek drivers noted that most customers know them by name so that they just wait for orders at the phones.

Hadiyatna said they sometimes jostled one another whenever there was a phone call so that they could get the orders first.

"However, we try to be fair to drivers whose names are called. We give the order to drivers who are already known by the customers," he said.

Sri Rijanti, spokeswoman of Telkom's South Jakarta office, said the office has asked neighborhood heads to inform local residents about the public telephone numbers in their areas.

The office is ready to install similar phone facilities in other areas with many ojek drivers, she said.

In South Jakarta, the program was launched on May 21 for the first time in the Pejaten Barat subdistrict.

"Just inform us if other areas in the city also need the facilities," Sri said. (03)