Hundreds of drivers serving two Transjakarta corridors staged a rally in front of the corridors' bus pool on Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan, East Jakarta on Monday morning.
Thousands of passengers were stranded for hours due to the strike.
The drivers demanded the company raise salaries and allowances. The drivers also asked the company not cut their pay when they are absent or involved in a traffic accident.
In response, the operator of the two busway corridors PT Transbatavia refused to raise drivers' salaries but agreed to stop cutting them.
A busway driver receives a monthly salary of Rp 1.05 million (US$114) plus an allowance of Rp 40,000 per shift. The drivers demanded a salary hike to Rp 2.4 million without any salary cut.
Mamat Surahmat, Transbatavia's president director, said his company agreed absent drivers would not have their salaries cut as long as they gave notification.
"If they don't notify us, we'll send up to three reprimand letters, which may lead to dismissals," he said.
Transbatavia operates Corridor 2 (Pulogadung in East Jakarta to Harmoni in Central Jakarta) and Corridor 3 (Kalideres in West Jakarta to Harmoni in Central Jakarta). Corridors 2 and 3 operate 58 and 56 buses, respectively. Corridor 2 carries about 30,000 passengers a day and Corridor 3, about 27,000.
During the strike, city administration asked Transbatavia to deploy any available buses to transport passengers stranded on the two corridors throughout the morning. The company provided eight buses.
"We want to make public needs our first priority. We asked the busway operator to run the eight buses in the afternoon," Governor Fauzi Bowo said.
Nurmansjah Lubis, a councilor on Commission B for economic oversight, said the operator should meet regulatory obligations, such as salary, and not cut driver pay.
"Transbatavia should listen to the drivers' demands. The busway operator Transjakarta should get clarification," he said.
Operational manager of Transjakarta Rene Nunumete said his office shifted 35 buses to cover the deficit, deploying 20 buses from Corridor 1, five buses from Corridors 4 and 6 and 10 buses from Corridors 5 and 7.
