A municipal transportation officer checks the license and registration of a public minivan driver in Central Jakarta. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)
Jakarta. Ardiansyah counted the number of stops he made from the Kampung Melayu bus terminal in East Jakarta to Pasar Minggu in the South.
Usually, he would make at least three, while idling for potential passengers in his public minivan. The 29-year-old driver of an angkot , or public minivan, has to pay Rp 200,000 ($17) to the owner of the vehicle every day in rent.
“I usually earn more than that, but some other times I have to cover the gap with my own money,” said Ardiansyah, who has a wife and child at home.
Parking his light blue minivan near the Duren Kalibata train station in Kalibata, South Jakarta, Ardiansyah was hoping to net some passengers exiting the station.
He said he worked from 7 a.m. through 9 p.m., six days a week, making around Rp 2 million a month. Patiently waiting for passengers — locally referred to as ngetem — at these unofficial stops helps him ensure that he will at least bring home the exact amount every month.
“There are too many angkot [serving this route]. It’s not easy to get passengers,” said Ardiansyah, who has been driving the M16 angkot along the Kampung Melayu-Pasar Minggu route for four years.
“Not to mention the worsening traffic jams make me have to pay more for gasoline,” he added, continuing his drive after a five-minute fruitless wait, while cars behind him blew their horns — upset that he was blocking almost half the road.
The sight of public vehicles taking up the road while waiting for passengers is very common in Jakarta. In some places, when police officers are not around, they will often even block off an entire section of the road, unaware of the traffic congestion they’ve created.
The problem is not only angkot — although the omnipresent vehicles play a considerable role, given their numbers. Metromini and Kopaja minibuses, as well as larger buses serving longer routes (usually connecting Jakarta with its suburbs) are also quite infamous for the traffic condemned by their patrons and other motorists alike.
Acting Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama thinks it’s about time to make a change.
Over the weekend, Basuki said he was planning to introduce a new system that would see public vehicle drivers in Jakarta subsidized for their potential income losses — as blocking the roads to wait for passengers would be formally banned.
With exception to official drivers employed by public and private firms, drivers for profit in Jakarta tend to earn their money like Ardiansyah, paying a fixed amount to the owner of the vehicle and taking home whatever is left.
Under the planned system, Basuki said, he wants each public vehicle driver to receive payment by the kilometer.
If the compensation fails to meet the as-yet-undecided amount, the Jakarta administration will cover the gap in the form of what he calls the Public Service Obligation.
“For example, if the cost reaches Rp 10,000 per day and [a driver] gets only Rp 7,000 per passenger, the city administration will pay the remaining Rp 3,000 to a city-owned firm,” Basuki said over the weekend.
The newly launched Transportasi Jakarta agency, which manages the TransJakarta busway network, will be the firm in question, Basuki said.
The company is being prepared to manage all public forms of transport in the capital, which are at present either handled by other state-owned firms, private companies or individuals in ownership of small fleets of angkot or minibuses.
Basuki said the system was still in the planning stages and would probably not be ready for launch until 2016.
The Jakarta head of the Organization of Land Transport Operators (Organda), Sudirman, said in an April interview, when the concept of a partial remuneration system was first discussed, that it would be a much-welcome policy.
The system, he said, may be able to discourage non-employee drivers of some public bus firms from roaming the streets. These drivers are often the culprits behind traffic jam-inducing ngetem, as they are not paid and count solely on passengers for earnings.
“It will also prevent drivers from driving recklessly [as they compete for fares],” Sudirman told Sindonews.com.
By Erwida Maulia & SP/Deti Mega Purnamasari on 08:48 am Jun 11, 2014
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