City, Council wait and see over busway fare hike

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 07/26/2007 11:54 AM | Jakarta

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Both the city administration and the City Council have said they want to wait for the results of a administration-ordered review before making a decision on whether to raise fares on the TransJakarta busway.

""We'll decide whether to increase the busway ticket price, add to the subsidy for its operations or raise both the ticket price and the subsidy only after the evaluation team concludes its findings,"" Governor Sutiyoso said Tuesday after a plenary session of the City Council.

Sharing Sutiyoso's opinion, Council Speaker Ade Surapriatna said the council could not make any decision without first hearing the team's findings.

""The council should increase the busway subsidy because the busway system functions as a public service obligation,"" he said.

""On the other hand, we also need to consider a fare increase, taking into account people's purchasing power.""

The council has approved a Rp 203 billion subsidy for the busway this year alone, while at least Rp 258 billion is needed to operate seven lines.

""Any decisions pertaining to the busway will appear only after the team finishes its evaluation,"" Ade said.

The administration had planned to increase the ticket price of Jakarta's busway after bus suppliers -- Jakarta Express Trans, Trans Batavia, Jakarta Trans Metropolitan and Jakarta Mega Trans -- complained of continuing losses caused by busway operator TransJakarta running only a few of their buses.

TransJakarta said it did not have enough money to operate all 329 buses and said it could not only count on ticket sales for income.

The shortfall in the number of buses has also meant delays and long queues of commuters.

Last Monday, Sutiyoso said he had no choice but to increase the price up to a possible Rp 5,000 (US$0.56) from the current fare of Rp 3,500 to ""maintain good services for commuters"".

He said he would assemble an evaluation team to sound out the performance of Jakarta's busway and count daily operational costs.

The team comprises representatives from the city transportation council, the city transportation agency, TransJakarta and the Indonesian Transportation Society, as well as a research institute, the International Transportation Development Program.

The team has two to three weeks from the governor's announcement to finish its evaluation.

However, the team was still awaiting a letter authorizing its establishment as well as the money needed to carry out its work.

Sutiyoso said, ""We'll issue the letter today (Tuesday) if it's the only thing the team needs.

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