The Jakarta Transportation Agency has warned of harsher sanctions for buses that illegally park on Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta, while picking up passengers from Sudirman Station.

“I will no longer fine them, even if they have proper papers, but will impound the buses,” said agency head Andri Yansyah on Wednesday as reported by kompas.com.

He referred to the city’s Regulation No. 5/2014 on transportation, which stipulates that buses, including the notoriously reckless Kopaja and Metromini buses, can only pick up and drop off passengers at specified bus stops.

In practice buses tend to pick up and drop off passengers anywhere along their routes, causing traffic jams.

“They [bus drivers] wait for passengers directly in front of the station entrance when there’s a bus stop just 50 meters away,” said Andri, underlining that a maximum of nine buses were allowed to park at the stop at any given time.

He added that the Organization of Land Transportation Owners, a union representing Kopaja and Metromini drivers, had agreed to these rules while also imploring commuters to support the effort by walking the 50 meters to the properly parked buses. (nor)