YLKI refuses to join team to discuss bus fare increase

YLKI refuses to join team to discuss bus fare increase

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The city administration decided on Tuesday to form a team to
discuss bus fare increases following the recent fuel price rises.

The idea was immediately rejected by the Indonesian Consumers
Foundation (YLKI), which refused to participate.

The decision to form the team was made during a meeting
attended by Governor Sutiyoso, City Transportation Agency
officials and Land Transportation Owners Association (Organda)
members at City Hall.

Organda handed over the decision on any increase to the
governor, a stance likely intended to avoid a public backlash.

The team to discuss the increase will comprise members from
the administration and Organda.

Organda on Monday said they would not demand a fare increase,
but asked the administration to give a subsidy to bus companies.
They argued it needed the subsidies to fix their old buses.
Jakarta has 9,000 registered buses but only 40 percent are in
operation as most are old and in disrepair.

The administration rejected the request and agreed to discuss
increasing fares instead.

YLKI, however, refused to be involved in the discussions for
any fare increase.

"We have received their invitation but we refused to join the
team since they would only use us to approve the fares increase,"
YLKI's complaint division head Tulus Abadi told The Jakarta Post.

Tulus said YLKI's opinion, like in past years, would be
ignored.

He said it rejected any fare increase as the fuel hike only
contributed about five percent of the companies operational
costs.

"But if they insist on increasing the fares, it should not be
more than five percent," he said.

The team would start its first meeting on Wednesday. It could
take a week or even a month before it reached a decision.

According to procedure, any increase must be signed by the
governor after discussions with the city council, YLKI and
Organda.

It is likely, however, that the team will continue their
discussions even without YLKI's presence.

The administration approved a fare increase by an average of
14 percent in August last year after the government increased
diesel prices to Rp 1,550 per liter from Rp 1,250 per liter. At
the time YLKI said it agreed with a 5 percent rise.

The government increased the price of premium gasoline to Rp
1,810 per liter from Rp 1,750 per liter and automotive diesel to
Rp 1,890 per liter from Rp 1,550 per liter last Thursday.

Tulus also said YLKI and about 40 non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) would prepare a lawsuit demanding the
postponement of increases in fuel, electricity and telephone
charges.

"Besides the lawsuit, we also prepared street rallies and
brochures to reject the increase. We will announce our plan on
Thursday."

Tulus said other NGOs involved included the Urban Poor
Consortium, the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute and the Indonesian
NGOs Federation for Indonesia Development (Infid).

He said they would sue the government because the decision to
increase suffering was made without public participation.

Meanwhile, Organda chief Aip Syaifuddin called on bus drivers
not to strike, although the fuel price increases had resulted in
reduced incomes, referring to threats of a strike if the
administration did not increase bus fares.

Some have even increased fares, rejecting the governor's
threat to punish those who increase fares arbitrarily.