Ever since a series of horrific accidents involving Metromini buses late last year (including one incident in which 16 people died after a Metromini was hit by a train), Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama has been pushing to get all of the dangerous, aging buses off the capital’s road.
Today a number of Metrominis drivers plan to hold a demonstration at Jakarta City Hall to protest the government trying to shut down their fleet
Governor Ahok did not seem even slightly bothered by the protest. In fact, he said he hoped the drivers would take even more drastic action.
“It they went on strike, it would be better. Just go on strike for the rest of your lives,” he said as quoted by Okezone.
The governor said the reduction of Metromini buses on the road was helping to get more people to use the integrated Transjakarta system.
“We are happy if they strike, recently the number of Transjakarta passengers rose to 343,000 per day,” he added.
Ahok has been pushing to have all of the city’s buses to be managed and integrated by PT Transjakarta. He said the bus driver protests would not delay this shift, but said that any drivers who wished to join the Transjakarta bus crew, with a guaranteed salary of two to 3.5 times the provincial minimum wage, was welcome to apply.
