Union rejects proposal to limit lifespan of public transportation vehicles

The Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) has rejected a recent proposal by the Jakarta Transportation Agency to limit the number of public vehicles in the capital based on the year vehicles were produced.

Under the proposal, large buses are allocated a lifespan of 10 years, medium-sized buses eight years, and public minivans and taxis get seven years. “If the regulation is implemented, it is likely that around 75 percent of the public vehicles operating in Jakarta will disappear,” Organda Jakarta chairman Sudirman said Monday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Sudirman added that getting rid of these vehicles would create huge problems for the city, not only for operators but also passengers. “At the end of the day, it is the passengers who would suffer most,” he said. Sudirman agreed that a regulation was needed to ensure safer and more comfortable public transportation services, but said that limiting the lifespan of vehicles on the road was unrealistic.

He proposed to set an ideal lifespan for public vehicles at 20 years for big buses and 12 years for medium and small buses. “This way, by our calculations only around 20 percent of the public vehicles would have to go,” he said.