Gridlock: A police officer directs traffic on Jl. Asia Afrika in Central Jakarta on Friday. The traffic was brought to a stand-still as supporters of The Democratic Party flocked to a rally at Bung Karno Stadium. (JP/Arief Suhardiman)
The Jakarta chapter of the Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) has called on public transportation operators not to rent their vehicles out for political campaigns, saying they should prioritize public passengers.
TR Panjaitan, secretary of Organda, said he received complaints that many passengers were stranded due the lack of buses during campaign rallies.
“Public needs should come first. The problem is, sometimes bus operators do not even know that their fleets are rented to political parties.”
“The parties usually come to the bus drivers to rent the buses for rallies, and not the owners of the buses.
“And the drivers will usually take the offers because the money is much more than would earn from a normal days work,” he said on Friday.
During the public campaign period, political parties will stage rallies everyday in each province across the country. The parties usually rent buses and bus crews to transport supporters to campaign venues or using them in motorcades.
He said his office would monitor every campaign venue to reprimand bus crews that neglect their duty.
Panjaitan however acknowledged that it is beyond Organda’s authority to impose sanctions.
Riza Hasyim, from the transportation agency, said his office could not penalize the bus operators.
“We don’t have the right to forbid them not to rent their buses for campaign rallies. The decision is fully on the bus operators’,” Riza said, adding, “We just hope that bus operators will use their reserve buses instead of the regular ones.”
Panjaitan said parties should use charter buses. “We have about 1,500 buses. But they [those parties] might be reluctant to rent those buses since they are costlier.”
In other developments on transportation issues, the administration said Friday that it would impose stricter sanctions on illegal on-street parking in the capital, saying it will also revise the bylaw on parking.
“The current parking bylaw imposes lenient sanctions. We need a stricter one,” Governor Fauzi Bowo said Friday. “Cities in the U.S., for instance, not only fine violators, but they also tow and seize the cars.”
“This is a good and effective way of enforcing parking bylaws. We will think of some ways like that to implement the ruling,” Fauzi said.
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