After a series of deadly accidents involving Metromini buses (including a train collision that took 18 people’s live) nobody complained when Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama started cracking down on the run-down orange buses, except of course their drivers and owners. People even seemed to support him when he said he would like to get rid of all of them.
We’re not so sure that’ll be the case with Ahok’s latest crusade to clean up public transportation in Jakarta. Now the Governor says that he wants to get rid of the capital’s angkot minivans and replace them all with buses.
“If you do not want to change to larger ones, then we don’t want to see angkots in Jakarta anymore. Later they will just be used in the suburbs, done,” Ahok said at City Hall yesterday as quoted by Kompas.
Ahok said medium-sized passenger buses were more efficient and did not cause as much traffic congestion.
He also said all angkot operator would need to join PT Transjakarta and switch to their rupiah-per-kilometer system.
“You need to change to the medium-size buses… However, if you insist on resisting, go ahead.. However, you will not win against us,” Ahok said.
Ahok said it was also important to get rid of angkots to streamline bus services in the city. He said if the buses were priced cheaply enough, more motorcyclists would choose to leave their bikes at home and use public transport.
While those are good points, we suspect that people will not be immediately in favor of Ahok getting rid of angkots, as they are the most convenient transport for a lot of people who rely on them daily. Getting enough buses to replace them also seems like it would take some major effort.
But if they really could replace them, it would be great to see the capital’s streets clear of angkots, especially the streets that they basically use as long parking lots while waiting for passengers.
