City urged to assess taxi's safety

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Tue, 03/21/2006 8:36 AM | Jakarta

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The general perception is that taking a taxi is a better bet than keeping one eye on your wallet and one hand on your heart on a public bus.

But the recent taxi robbery cases, in which drivers were the culprits, has made people think twice before hailing a cab and hit taxi drivers where it hurts most -- in the pocket.

The chairwoman of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation, Indah Suksmaningsih, said the Jakarta administration should intervene to protect both taxi users and taxi firms.

""The administration could evaluate the operation of taxis, including taxi crime. The important thing is to inform the public about their findings,"" she told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Such an evaluation is necessary to show taxi users the administration is concerned about their safety, Indah said.

By passing on their findings to the public -- particularly data on which taxi firms are safe and reliable and which are not -- taxi companies would also be more careful about recruiting new drivers.

Another way to stop taxi crime is to install an emergency button in the taxi, which would directly alert other road users, the police and the taxi company.

Four robberies inside taxis were reported in the city this year.

The most recent case was on Saturday evening. Two female college students were robbed by four men on their way home after shopping at a hypermarket in Puri Kembangan, West Jakarta.

Their cell phones, jewelry and Rp 1.1 million in cash was stolen. They estimated their total losses at over Rp 6 million.

The victims -- NR and IR -- were taking a Koperasi taxi, driven by suspect Arman, to Pasar Minggu in South Jakarta.

The driver abruptly stopped the taxi and three men got in. One man took the front seat, and the two others squeezed in beside the two young women. They headed toward Tomang, West Jakarta, via the Jakarta-Tomang freeway.

One of the passenger used her cell phone to call her father for help. The father called the police. Kembangan Police officers chased the taxi.

Police stopped the taxi but the four suspects escaped.

Police said two of the thieves left their ID cards in the taxi, including the stand-in driver.

On Jan. 18, two people stopped a taxi that three women had hailed in Mangga Besar, West Jakarta. The passengers were heading to Pademangan, North Jakarta. The driver allowed unidentified men to enter the taxi and rob the passengers. Their cell phones and Rp 420,000 in cash was taken. Police suspect the driver was a party to the crime.

In another case on Feb. 12, a mother and her teenage daughter had just left a South Jakarta cinema when the taxi they were in came to a halt. The driver said the tire was flat. Two men entered the taxi. The driver started the car. The three robbed the passengers and dropped them off on a quiet road.

On March 2, two women stopped a taxi at Pondok Indah shopping mall. They had mistaken it for a Blue Bird taxi due to its color. Despite realizing their error, and that the driver's ID card was covered with paper, they decided to stay in the car anyway. On their way home to Cinere in Depok, the car stopped and the driver let in his accomplices who robbed the two women.

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