The Scream Of A Tour Bus Driver Amid The COVID-19 Pandemic

Ojol was involved in distributing aid packages (Source: Presidential Secretariat Press Bureau)

JAKARTA - The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is felt by all parties, especially on the economic-tourism side. The first parties who feel the changes are small communities and people who are involved in the transportation sector.

One of them is the tourist bus drivers. They could no longer work when the central and provincial governments decided to implement a Large-Scale Social Restriction (PSBB) system in Jakarta to suppress the spread of the virus.

Drivers who are members of the Indonesian Tourism and Rental Bus Entrepreneurs Association (Pebparindo) feel uneasy if the COVID-19 pandemic does not end. Through his general chairman, Januari Iwan said, almost a month there were no activities due to the Corona outbreak. This is of course very, very influential for the economic income of his colleagues.

"It is very affected. For now, we have had no activity for more than 1 month," said Iwan at Polda Metro Jaya, Monday, April 21.

With no activity and income for too long, Iwan and his colleagues came to the Polda Metro Jaya. They aim to ask permission to stage a convoy as a symbol aimed at the government to get attention. The reason is, it is claimed that none of the assistance or policies have been issued to help them.

They also had to bite their fingers, because the request to stage an action on April 22 was rejected by the police who were guided by the instructions of the National Police Chief.

"Yes, now they have a family, they have a life, so far they only pay per trip. Personally, our company has helped with logistics costs for our crew, but their rights from the government as promised have not been received, there has not been any. "said Iwan while mentioning the previous plan to revive the spirit of transportation, which has been considered suspended animation due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic.

Even though their efforts to simply get attention from the government failed, said Iwan, in the future they hope the government will open its eyes and instead embrace those who are also victims affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Pay attention to our crews where currently there is a BLT for the driver, but for the tourist bus it is completely neglected," said Iwan.

For your information, DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan will impose Large-Scale Social Restrictions (PSBB) in the transportation sector related to operating hours and the number of passengers.

"With regard to public transportation in Jakarta, the number of passengers per public vehicle will be limited. The operating hours are limited to 6 am to 6 pm. This applies to all public vehicles operating in Jakarta," said Anies.

Then, Anies also said that later he would limit the number of passengers on public transportation by 50 percent of the vehicle capacity. This is to suppress and break the chain of spreading COVID-19.

"So if for example a bus can be filled with 50 passengers, then only 25 passengers can be in one bus. So we do not allow the full, but only 50 percent. So the hours are limited and the passengers are reduced," he said.