City considers raising busway ticket price

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 07/14/2007 2:12 PM  |  Jakarta

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Commuters will soon have to pay almost double the current busway ticket price, with the city administration cutting the service's subsidy in the wake of losses suffered by the consortium that runs it.

""We have no other choice,"" Governor Sutiyoso said Friday at City Hall.

One busway ticket is now priced at Rp 3,500 (US$0.39), while the administration has provided Rp 210 billion as subsidy for the busway's seven-line operations this year alone.

City secretary Ritola Tasmaya said the City Council had rejected the administration's proposal to increase the busway subsidy up to Rp 280 billion.

Earlier, Trans Batavia, one of the companies in the consortium, complained about the commitment of the city administration and the busway managing company, Jakarta Express Trans.

Trans Batavia president director Azis Rismaya Mahfud said the company had provided buses as the administration requested but the managing company was operating only a few of them.

In addition, Trans Batavia operational director Jabes Sihombing said, each Trans Batavia bus traveled a distance of 165 kilometers per day while the contract stipulated at least 290-300 km daily.

""As a result, we are suffering losses of around 40-45 percent from the service fee of each kilometer the operator should pay,"" said Jabes.

Jakarta Express Trans had also delayed their payments since February, not only to Trans Batavia, he said, but also to the other bus suppliers -- Jakarta Trans Metropolitan and Jakarta Mega Trans.

The delayed payments, he said, had caused the two other bus suppliers to pay their employees only half of their monthly wages.

Ritola said the new price would be set on Monday, the first rise since the busway commenced operations in 2004.

The administration fixed the Rp 3,500 ticket price when only one busway line was operational, that linking South Jakarta's Blok M to West Jakarta's Kota, he said.

""But now we have seven lines. So we think it's time we set a higher price,"" Ritola said.

Based on the administration's calculations, it must set aside more than Rp 386 billion a year as a subsidy for operating seven lines with a Rp 3,500 ticket.

By comparison, it only has to provide Rp 225 billion as subsidy to operate the busway's seven lines with one busway ticket priced at Rp 5,000, Ritola said.

He said the administration's plan to operate three new busway lines next year would be taken into account when it determined the new price.

The three lines -- VIII, IX and X -- will link Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta to Harmoni in Central Jakarta; Pinang Ranti in East Jakarta to Pluit in North Jakarta; and Cililitan in East Jakarta to Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.