Jakarta authorities continue to come down hard on Metro Mini buses following drivers'€™ ongoing strike, which appears not to substantially affect daily life in the capital.

On Monday, the Blok M bus terminal in South Jakarta was a bit quieter than usual, with hardly any of the blue-orange minibuses passing through. Some uninformed passengers were stranded at the terminal, while more have opted for alternative public transportation.

Sumarno, one of the passengers at the terminal, feels his daily routine was not disrupted by the strike. He said he would wait for Kopaja bus S605 instead of the Metro Mini 610 that he would usually take to his office in Fatmawati, South Jakarta.

'€œTaking the Kopaja means that afterwards I have to walk about 500 meters to my office, but that is okay. I don'€™t feel safe taking Metro Mini anyway,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

Another passenger at the Pasar Minggu bus terminal, Mohammad Badra, said he would take an app-based ojek (motorcycle taxi) to his campus in Pancoran, South Jakarta. '€œThey [Metro Mini buses] had it coming. The road will be safer without them,'€ Badra said.

For years, Metro Mini buses have built up a bad reputation for what many see as reckless driving and for vehicles that are no longer roadworthy. According to the Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda), only 10 percent of the 1,600 Metro Mini buses that operate in the capital city are in good condition.

The buses have been in the spotlight recently following a series of accidents, including a deadly crash with a commuter train at the Angke train station in West Jakarta on Dec. 6, which claimed 18 lives, and another accident that killed a boy and injured a woman in Meruya, West Jakarta.

In the wake of the accidents, the Jakarta administration confiscated vehicles and revoked licenses of poorly maintained Metro Mini buses. As of Sunday, the Transportation Agency had confiscated around 200 Metro Mini buses.

Metro Mini drivers protested the measure, saying it had been taken without proper consideration. The drivers have halted operations since Friday, fearing that their buses would be the next to be netted by city authorities.

Responding to the strike, Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said at City Hall on Monday that the city administration would not stop cracking down on Metro Mini buses that were in poor condition.

'€œThe buses we confiscated are the poor ones. Buses that have passed the road worthiness test will be released,'€ he said.

He appeared unfazed by the drivers'€™ and owners'€™ decision to go on strike. '€œI am happy actually. I do not need to [conduct raids], they stop operating by themselves. I hope they strike forever,'€ the governor said.

Ahok added he was tired of waiting for Metro Mini to join the city-owned PT Transportasi Jakarta (Transjakarta). '€œKopaja is already set to join us. So, if they want, they actually can realize it,'€ he said.

In a bid to prevent passengers piling up at terminals, the Jakarta administration has deployed alternative transportation, including school buses, and prepared Transjakarta and Mayasari Bakti buses to follow suit.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian said he supported the city'€™s plan to regulate Metro Mini buses by establishing a formal legal entity that would manage their operation.

'€œ[The current] Metromini system is that each bus is run and managed by its owner. That'€™s the reason why there is no equal standard [across all Metro Mini buses],'€ he said Monday. (saf)

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