Transportation permits issuance is big business

Transportation permits issuance is big business

JAKARTA (JP): Officials of the City Land Transportation Agency
(DLLAJ) have acknowledged there is a big difference between
official route permit fees and the charges found in the route
permit business.

According to 1992 Municipality Regulation No. 9, owners of
public transport vehicles are required to pay administration and
route permit fees.

The regulation states that the annual route permit fee is Rp
100,000 (US$40.80) for large buses, Rp 75,000 for medium-sized
buses and Rp 50,000 for minivans.

Drivers, cooperatives and owners of minivans and medium-sized
buses have said they have paid between Rp 1 million and Rp 11
million, depending on whether routes had many passengers or not.

Administration fees in the 1992 regulation include a five-year
transportation business permit that costs Rp 30,000 for big
buses, Rp 25,000 for medium-sized buses and Rp 20,000 for
minivans.

However head of DLLAJ's transportation division, H.M. Djuhdi,
denied that fees of millions of rupiah went to agency officials.

"That's out of our control," Djuhdi said, adding that the
agency was not lenient in issuing permits because they were
strict with legal procedures.

A researcher in transportation issues, Sonny Sulaksono, said
yesterday official route permit fees lacked transparency.

The fees, reaching millions of rupiah for a route permit,
claimed by bus company owners, he said, "is actually the
estimated profit from a public transport vehicle sold to another
party."

Asked whether the business in route permits was a black
market, Sonny said there was no rule against buying and selling
route permits.

"So it's not a black market, but it's getting there," he said.

During the past week, drivers have alleged that DLLAJ and the
Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) have
leniently issued route permits.

Upset

On some routes drivers were upset with new additional fleets
plying similar roads, while in other areas rumors of new buses
sparked more strikes.

Drivers of M16 minivans plying between Kampung Melayu and
Pasar Minggu had said new minivans in their area were operating
without permits from DLLAJ.

Along the Tanah Abang-Joglo route in West Jakarta, drivers of
the B92 Metromini buses had said new fleets of B17 minivans run
by the Koperasi Wahana Kalpika cooperative had taken about 300
meters of their 18-kilometer route.

DLLAJ's traffic transportation control subdivision head,
Oriyanto Supardal, said overlapping routes were impossible to
prevent. He said normally a route could not be monopolized by one
bus fleet.

Another agency official said some drivers were angered by
competition that only overlapped 100 meters of their route.

About route permit issuance, the DLLAJ official said the
permit could be transferred to other owners and to other routes
and other vehicles as long as the transfer was reported to the
agency.

"But I hear that many old vehicles...are still operating while
their permits have been transferred to new ones," he said. DLLAJ
chief J.P. Sepang had alleged that this was why drivers were
angry over too many vehicles.

Oriyanto said, "If there is enough proof, we will investigate
owners and warn them."

Minivans are considered unsuitable to operate properly when
they have been in operation for six years, he said.

Djuhdi said extending route permits and replacing old vehicles
with new public transportation vehicles, or transferring
ownership of route permits, required several steps that hindered
the practice of illegal levies.

He refused to give further details.

Djuhdi said the number of minivans allowed to operate in the
city was 6,125 vehicles which ply 77 different routes. Sepang had
said the designated limit of public transport vehicles had not
been reached.

In all, the set figure for public transportation buses,
including minivans, allowed to operate in the city is 20,738
vehicles on 568 routes. (10/anr)