TRANSPORT FARES BEGIN TO DROP IN VAROUS REGIONS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Jan 16 (ANTARA) - In response to the government's decision on Thursday to lower the prices of premium gasoline and diesel oil for the third time in less than two months, transport fares in various parts of the country began declining on Friday.

        Economy class commuter trains serving routes within Jakarta and its satellite towns of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Jabodetabek) lowered their tariffs by eight to 20 percent on Friday.

        Spokesman of railway company PT KA for region I operation, Ahmad Sujadi, said PT KA had decided to lower its economy class train fares, including fares for air-conditioned (AC) ones, for passengers commuting the Jabodetabek routes.

        The fares for the Jakarta-Bogor route for example, were lowered by 20 percent from Rp2,500 to Rp2000 per passengers for non-AC economy class, while those for the Jakarta-Depok and Jakarta Bogor routes were cut by 8 percent from Rp6,000 to Rp5,500.

        Air-conditioned economy class train fares for the Jakarta - Bekasi and Jakarta - Serpong (Tangerang) were lowered by 8 percent from Rp5,000 to 4,500 percent.

        Sujadi said that fares for executive class remained unchanged, however.

        In the meantime, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday toured a number of places in Jakarta to inspect the impacts of cuts in the fuel prices which had begun effective on Thursday. The price of premium gasoline was cut from Rp5,000 to Rp4,500 per liter and that of diesel oil from Rp4,800 to Rp4,500 per liter.

        The first location inspected by Yudhoyono was the Kota railway station where the president found that the ticket price of Tegal Arum train for Tegal direction in Central Java, had been lowered from Rp16,000 to Rp15,000.

        After inspecting a number of gasoline refilling stations, the head of state also inspected the Pulogadung intercity bus terminal in East Jakarta to look at the impact of the fuel oil price cuts.

        He said that a number of public transport vehicles had begun to lower their rates following the cuts. "I hope this condition can be improved further in order to increase the people's purchasing power," the president said.

        The president said he had contacted a number of regional administration heads to ask about the lowering of transport fares after the fuel oil prices were cut. "This morning, I called on the mayor of Padang to cut transport fares there. I also did the same thing with Bogor's mayor. I checked with the Land Transport Owners Organization (Organda), and I found that it has lowered its tariffs," the president said.

        He said the fare for public transportation in Bogor, West Java, had been lowered from Rp2,500 to Rp2,000 per passenger. The train tariff at the Kota railway station had been cut by 8 percent as well but the tariff for electric trains had not yet been lowered on Thursday.

        According to Yudhoyono, he had also checked transport fares at the Pulogadung intercity bus terminal in East Jakarta. "Passengers who wanted to go to Madura enjoyed a cut from Rp200,000 to Rp180,000 per person," he said adding that those going to Yogyakarta also paid a lower price as the fare had been reduced from Rp175,000 to Rp160,000 per passenger.

        In the meantime, Bambang Setyo Prayitno, spokesman of PT KA for region II operation in Bandung (West Java) said that fares for economy class intercity trains were lowered by 8 percent. "The cuts in the fares are only for intercity economic class, while those for commercial and for commuters (local train) were not lowered," he said.

        Four economy express trains in Bandung have lowered their fares, namely Pasundan for Bandung-Surabaya route, Kahuripan for Padalarang - Kediri, Kutojaya for Kiaracondong - Kutoarjo and Serayu I, II, III and IV for Jakarta - Kroya. The fares were lowered from Rp41,000 to Rp38,000 for Pasundan, from Rp21,000 to Rp19,000 for Kutojaya and from Rp20,500 to Rp19,000 for Serayu trains.

        In East Java, PT KA spokesman for region VIII operation, Sugeng Prijono said that train fares for economy class from Surabaya to a number of destinations had also lowered their tariff by 8 percent.

        Among trains which have cut their tariffs were Logawa, which had lowered their fares from Rp33,000 to Rp31,000 for the Jember-Purwokerto route, Gaya Baru Malam Selatan cut its tariff from Rp36,000 to Rp34,000 for the Surabaya-Jakarta route and Matarmaja from Rp55,000 to Rp51,000 for Malang-Jakarta and Sri Tanjung from Rp21,000 to Rp20,000 for Banyuwangi - Yogyakarta route.

        In the meantime, the Organization of Land Transport Owners (Organda) for East Java's Jember district, is also considering cutting the fares of its angkot (urban mini-van transport vehicle) by 10 percent. "Organda is now considering a cut for angkot fares by 10 percent after the government cut fuel oil three times," Organda Jember chairman Hari Sardi said.

        Angkot fares were also reduced by 10 percent in Cirebon, a district town in West Java. Cirebon Organda chairman H Iskandar Agus Banaji said that his side had cut the angkot fares in accordance with an agreement his organization had concluded with the local government. "The angkot fares are lowered from Rp2,500 to Rp2,200 for adults while for school children the fares are reduced Rp1,500 to Rp1,400," he said.

        In Banjarmasin, capital of South Kalimantan, the local government and Organda had agreed to lower angkot fares in the city by 8 percent. Romansyah, chief of land transportation affairs of the South Kalimantan's Transportation Service, said that with the lowering by eight percent, transport fares for Banjarmasin-Mertapura, for example, were reduced from a range of between Rp5,640 and Rp8,520 to a range of between Rp5,160 to Rp7,880.

        While many public transport operators have cut their transport fares, many others in a number of regions, such as South Sumatra, West and Central Kalimantan have not yet followed their counterparts in lowering their tariffs.

        Chairman of West Kalimantan Organda Adhie Rumbee said it was difficult to cut transport fares in the province because fuel oil accounted for only a small portion of the basic tariff elements.

        "We still charge our passengers with old tariffs because retailers are still selling fuel oils at old prices," said Edy Nyanyah, owner of a speed boat service in Muara Teweh, Central Kalimantan on Thursday.

        Actually, South Sumatra has lowered angkot fares from Rp2,500 to Rp2,200 but drivers still charged their passengers with the old tariffs. Head of South Sumatra's Tansportation Service Edi Nursalam promised to take actions against errant drivers who violated the decision. (T.A014/A/HAJM/A/S012) 16-01-2009 21:10:34