Pay the fare, please

Usually, I wrote about my daily rants about myself while taking public transportation. Well, this time is the other way around though I might have written about this previously. Now, I am going to write the story that I heard from mikrolet's driver


Mikrolet is not the same with bus related to the fare. For buses, the fare is the same for short and long destination. Some people doesn't like to pay full when they feel they only have been in the bus for short time. Or we can say that they actually can walk to their destination but perhaps too lazy. Mikrolet has different fares, depends on how long the passengers destination. The shorter your destination then the cheaper is the fare. And even so, passenger still trying not to pay in full for the fare. And guess what... Yes, female passengers are the most naughty passenger who always try to avoid paying in full. Can't really blame them as they are the financial adviser at home. Things that need to be cut, they will do so without hesitation.

But one day, I saw a male passenger with two kids paid the fare for himself only. That made other passenger asked the driver why on earth that guy only paid for one person while he also taking 2 kids? The driver, calmly said that the guy wasn't the only one. There were others just like him, but he was not really keen to pressure them in order to paid full.

Wow, this kind of driver is very rare. When the driver pissed off over one lousy passenger, he can be moody all day long. Several of them probably ranting about that passenger, saying nasty things. The driver probably think that his income will be lesser than usual. He was angry to that passenger and know nothing else to lash out his anger but to speed up his car. So, the passenger who paid less fare have nothing to fear about his or her life. They have moved on thinking ah, I am able to cut my expenses. But his or her action leaves other passengers scare to death. Why? Because the driver speeding up his car and God knows what will happen next. The driver probably just told all other passengers to get out and move to another public transportation. Or he could grumbling all day long and being nasty to other passengers.


Come to think of if, when the driver is nice then there is always at least one lousy passenger who probably paid less or doing something to annoy others.

So, do we really need to meet bad drivers to make up our mind and paid the fare as it should be?

Cheap fare transportation..., really?

Why people really want to put themselves in the gutter just to use public transportation? Well, obviously because the fare is much cheaper compare if we took a taxi.

But come to think of it, if we have to use from one public transportation to another then the fare is not going to be cheap. First you probably have to pay IDR 2,000 for the mikrolet, then continue with busway amounting IDR 3,500 if you took it after 07.00 AM. After that you still need to use motorcycle taxi with fare IDR 5,000... If you add them all, then what's so cheap about it? Just double the fare to cover from the moment you left the house up to go home again.

If we read people who use busway complaining about how they have to wait for 2 hours before the busway finally available. They did that to save some money for the fare. Otherwise, once they saw how long the line is then it would be better to just walk out from the bus stop for busway. Then try to find any kind of buses that goes to our destination. And that would mean we are loosing extra money for the fare for the possibility arriving at home earlier. Well, if the regular buswasy is there in front of you within 10 minutes of waiting then we better get on with it. Even though the bus already packed with lots of people. Rather than waiting for 2 hours at the bus stop, not including the time duration to be taken before reaching home.

So, what's so cheap about from those public transportation? Or is it our own fault in choosing wrong house's location?

Don't mess with the driver

My friend said this after reading my posting about driver who waits for hours for passengers.
That's so true my friends. Never ever try to make a scene with the driver in the middle of his job to take passengers reaching their destination. otherwise then get ready for these :

1. Mikrolet's driver Waiting for passengers
Never ever tried to rush the driver to get it move on. If we hate waiting then it would be best for us to step out from the waiting vehicle and shut your ears if the driver screaming at you. He needs passengers but we need to beat the time. Although we still need the cheap fare as well.
If they are upset, some of them immediately barking at us. I prefer these kind of drivers as it would giving me a chance to walk out from his vehicle. If he did not retort back, then get ready to have a heart attack as the driver will speed his vehicle to the limit.


2. Bajaj's driver
The driver will be pissed if we bargain too cheap for the fare. It is a good thing if he just move away as a sign that he refused the offered fare. The disaster came when he angrily agree with the fare and once we get in he drove the vehicle like crazy
That's why I always wondering when hearing a friend bargain too cheap. Aren't they afraid that the driver will drive like crazy as he hates to accept the fare but need the money?

3. Paid below the fare
If we are on the bus, we would be dealing a lot with the driver's assistant when it comes to the fare.
But with mikrolet's driver, oh don't you even think to pay below the fare. They would not hesitate to stop, get out from their vehicle, chasing us then asked for the fare to be paid full.
How could I know? Well, I once experienced that being chased by the driver because my friend did not pay accordingly. It was a surprise to see him suddenly behind us asking for the money.
Lucky us he did not hit us on the spot.

4. Opposite tendencies
If we want the public transportation to move fast...then the driver make it very slowly as if to compete with a turtle. But when we want the public transportation to move slower ( I did not say slowly... I just want it to be a bit slower) then it was like a push for them to drive it as fast as they can be.


The point is, let them drive, let them do whatever they want as long as they bring us safe up to our destination.

Omprengan

I have no idea whether this kind of transportation is exist or otherwise outside Jakarta - Bekasi

Omprengan is illegal public transportation originally from private cars being multi functioned by the owner to bring other people who has the same destination.

So, if the owner domiciled in Bekasi but has to work in Jakarta. Rather than he deal with gasoline and highway fare alone, it would be better if he share with other people who are about to go to the same destination. Passengers prefer omprengan because even though is more expensive but at least they could avoid the tiredness for standing along the way inside the bus. Or the fare could be cheaper if the passengers need to take public transportations more than one before reaching the destination. This is only in smaller scale where the owner operated his vehicle to shares fare and in limited capacity also still prefer the comfortableness.

There are other omprengan operated almost like public transportation. They have their own base camp and not going to move before they have full passengers inside the car. Comfortableness be gone... But still people prefer to use omprengan as public transportation has becoming more disaster.

Although I worked inside the city, once for a few years I enjoyed using omprengan. Well, it was not really that comfort as the vehicle was an old minibus. But it has huge space so within force there could be 15 people inside.

The happy side? Obviously because the fare is cheaper compare to the bus. And I could sit and sleep all the way. My goodness, I really don't want to miss a chance to fall asleep...

The not so happy side because the driver always waiting for his loyal customers for a long time. Most of his customers start working at 08.30 AM so they were not in a hurry.

The funny or tragic story was the moment that I saw how people who were having too much comfort could ask for more. At that time, the gasoline price was increasing. So, the driver ask for our understanding that he would increase the fare as well. A lady asked me in vain,"Oh why he has to increase the fare?" So, she really not willing to pay more. I looked at her while thinking if she use the bus then she has to pay more than she paid right now. And there would be no chance to have a bit of comfort.

The danger of using unknown omprengan is the owner could be a robber along with the fake passengers. Which is why don't take chances when we are about to use omprengan for the first time. It would be best if we have someone who familiar with it.

Sure we need cheap fare but we always need to be alert.

Let me outta here

Things that could force people get off from public transportation whether is a bus, busway, mikrolet, and many others:


Downed tools
Well…isn’t that so obvious? What else could you do when that situation occur? Would you like to offer your help to push the vehicle? Or you wish to pray for a miracle to happen so the public transportation miraculously back in business in order for you avoiding loss for the fare? If you want to pray then you should do it before you use any public transportation.

SMELLY!
Have no idea what, where, how that smell is coming but it stink! And inhaling that odor in a long time makes you get a headache. To avoid any unfortunate events such as collapsing in public place perhaps you should take a hike from that vehicle.

That kind of creepy feeling
You are unsure about something but it keep on bugging you… If you feel that if you are in danger or some kind then do not hesitate to just get off the public transportation. The fare you lose meant nothing with the gruesome ordeal that you might have to face if you choose to ignore those feeling. Naturally, remind yourself don’t just get off in a secluded area…

High volume music!
Once I entering mikrolet with dark glasses, there are this discotheque lamps above playing with your eyes and of course that big bad loud speaker. And then the driver put on this tripping music that will drive you wild at the club but drive you insane inside that tiny public transportation. If you are not in a hurry to go to your destination then perhaps getting off will be a very good decision.
Same things happen on the bus though the area is much wider that does not mean will lessen any suffering that you have to listen the loud music. Not only the music is beyond your taste the driver feel the need to turn on the volume to the maximum level. If you are listening to your IPOD then it would be better if you just take it off. It won’t do you any good to try covering the unwanted music by making the volume louder on your IPOD. The sound from that big loud speaker still able to penetrate into your ears and it will be better you just get off the bus… If you really can not take it anymore…