JAKARTA. Jakarta residents who use public transportation account for only 11% of the total population due to poor management and safety, said Tulus Abadi from the Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI).

“[The proportion of Jakarta residents] using public transportation was 38% in 2005. But now the percentage has plunged to 11.5%,” Tulus said on Thursday as quoted by Antara.

He added that people were still reluctant to switch to public transportation as using private cars was still more convenient thanks to heavily subsidized fuel.

According to Tulus, 89% of subsidized fuel went to private cars.

Tulus added that rampant illegal fees had also put another burden on the public transportation sector.

The Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association (HIPMI) secretary general Harry Warganegara Harun also highlighted the illegal-fee issue.

Harry cited his association's findings that land transportation businesses shoulder as much as Rp 25 trillion (US$ 2.7 billion) in fees per year. The figure combines those fees imposed by statutory authorities and illegal ones.

Illegal fees cost transportation companies up to 25% of their revenue. (nad/The Jakarta Post)

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