Busway fare to increase to Rp 5,000 in 2008

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya hinted Friday the administration would welcome the new year by raising the busway fare from Rp 3,500 to Rp 5,000 (53 U.S. cents).

"The busway ticket price must increase and it will be effective on Jan. 1, 2008," he said at City Hall, as quoted by Detik.com newsportal.

The planned price increase, he said, was due to the addition of three new busway corridors that would increase the busway's distance from 99 to 170 kilometers.

Busway operator TransJakarta pays bus suppliers a set fee for every kilometer their buses run.

"We would need at least a Rp 500 billion subsidy if we stayed with the current price of Rp 3,500, and would expect a three to five minute interval between the arrival of buses (as stops)," said Ritola.

The subsidy for the busway has risen from Rp 43.74 billion ($4.67 million) in 2006 for the operation of three corridors to Rp 235 billion in 2007 for seven corridors.

The administration plans to ask for a Rp 227 billion subsidy for next year's operation of 10 corridors, according to Ritola.

"The easiest thing we can do is raise ticket prices ... the price is not too expensive because it's the same as the fare for air-conditioned buses," he said.

Although the new ticket price "will be effective on Jan. 1 next year", Ritola earlier said the three new corridors would only be up and running next May, or five months after initially planned.

The City Council's deputy chairman of Commission D for development, Mukhayar, said he opposed the planned ticket price increase.

"The ticket price does correlate with the subsidy, but it's not that simple," he told The Jakarta Post.

"The city administration must wait for the council's special committee to finish evaluating all busway-related issues before deciding on the increase."

The council assembled a special committee on the busway in early November, to evaluate its management and financial issues.

"The administration should know it first needs to improve busway services, for example, by adding more buses," said Mukhayar.

TransJakarta says only 329 buses had been procured for the seven corridors as of July, out of 346 buses promised by suppliers.

Eventually, TransJakarta plans to operate 511 buses on the seven corridors.

The ticket price increase will only "benefit" bus suppliers rather than commuters, Mukhayar said.