Monopoli Taksi Bali? Ayo, Pak Presiden – Smash The Ngurah Rai Racket!

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Bluebirds are usually reliably metered

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The disgusting rip-off fares charged by many of the taxi-drivers who hang about Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport are back in the news again, a report from that useful Bali website confirming that the monopoly exploiting arrivals there are demanding sums substantially higher than the cost of a metered-taxi traveling the same distance.http://www.balidiscovery.com.

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Some of you may be wondering if this rapacity could be perpetrated with impunity unless there were powerful backing from somebody higher up the ranks of airport power. And if so, why are the cops not raiding the airport and rounding up the scurvy knaves responsible?

Angkasa Pura I, the managers of the Bali Airport, have granted an exclusive monopoly to the Ngurah Rai Taxi Cooperative…

...despite such a monopoly arrangement and any limitation on free trade being expressly forbidden by the anti-monopoly law No. 5 of 1999.

I addressed my headline to President Jokowi because I’m still convinced he’s a decent man at heart, despite much of the nonsense which has emerged from both his ministers and the DPR (parliament) here. I appreciate that a government as indifferent as the current one seems to be ( to tourism as an industry ) may not be overly concerned about the plight of innocent travellers who only want to enjoy a relaxing trip to Bali…Bingung Buaaanget! – Gimana Minum Bir Di Bali? 

…but surely a word from Palace to Police about corruption  – and/or coercion by cabbies  – would not be too much to ask.

… in addition, those using the taxis in late evening hours are coerced by drivers to pay even more than the already-high posted fares. 

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•  A rip-off ratbag cabbie?
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• One passenger told Tribun-Bali.com that a trip from the Airport to the nearby Dewi Ruci Monument costs Rp. 120,000 (US$9.25), a price substantially higher than what a taxi using a meter would charge. 

That’s bloody outrageous.

I’ve posted on this again and again.    

Bali Cops Corral ‘Gypsy’ Cabs – So When Will The ‘Regulars’ Charge Fair Fares? 

Beautiful Bali’s Criminal Cabbies – Warning! 

If you walk past the sleazy ratbags soliciting huge sums, as far as the exit from the airport, you can get a decent cabbie who will either have a meter, like the usually good Bluebirds, or will bargain with you. 

One expatriate resident of Bali wrote to Bali Update to complain of a “Taxi Mafia” where air passengers arriving on late flights discover that the Ngurah Rai Taxi Booth is closed and the lack of a signage listing the approved tariffs to various destinations. The same reader said taxis standing by late at night demand a fare of Rp 350,000 (US$27) or more for a ride to nearby Legian.

Outrageous! 

Rp.50,000 is a fair fare to Legian or Kuta. Get a taxi outside the rip-off zone. Give him a tip (10 %) and he’ll be happy enough.

But that’s not so easy if you have a bunch of kids and all that luggage.

And here’s the rub. They recently allowed, at last, a proper airport bus service. 

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Seemingly by design, passengers who opt to avoid the taxis and take theTrans Sarbagita Bus System are compelled to walk a distance of more than 500 meters to wait an indeterminate amount of time for the next bus to depart.

 

Prohibition Indonesia – Bali Exempt…Sort Of!

Had to get out and about last night to survey the expat reaction to the embryonic ‘creeping shariah’ diktat we’ve already covered here.

.No More Drink? Jakarta on Brink of Prohibition…

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Also to preempt the decree, by sinking as much vin rouge as possible – hence my delayed home-coming (fell asleep on the busway and ended up in Pluit) and my very late emergence today. 

Not hard to gauge opinion – it was the first thing just about EVERYBODY at the party spoke about. My fellow-attendees included Brits, Canadians, Germans, French and Australians – there was a mood of restrained alarm, many a finger crossed that sanity might yet prevail.

Some drew consolation from the fact that even government ministers must soon grasp that any such nationwide ban on booze would devastate Bali’s tourist trade.

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•  That’s Bondi beach, not Bali’s – but a nice photo, yeah?
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• And sure enough, a small grain of sense has percolated through. However, the ‘exemption’ of the Isle of the Gods is not as sensible as the Jakarta Post headline might lead us to hope.

Instead of leaving well enough alone, the ‘exemption’ ensures that minimarkets, food stalls, street vendors and beachside vendors will no longer be allowed to sell beer or other beverages with an alcohol content of between 1 and 5 percent. Thirsty tourists will thus no longer be able to walk out of their hotels or flop-houses and buy a beer two yards  from the door. That’s how densely populated Kuta and Legian, at least, are, in terms of mini-marts.

Instead, a cumbersome network of local government meddling is to be imposed. In Kuta, for example, six customary villages would establish village-owned enterprises to manage the hundreds of beachside beer vendors…

Wayan Swarsa, chairman of the customary village council (MADP) is planning to establish an enterprise for Kuta, Legian, Tuban, Kerobokan and Kedonganan.

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 Kuta Square

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No disrespect to Pak Wayan, but what benefits accrue from local councils running a business already running perfectly well in the hands of free enterprise?  The more state bureaucracies get involved – and I’m not singling out Bali here; it’s a nationwide problem – then the greater the risk of corruption.

Of course by making these arrangements for Bali, the Government is displaying a clear disregard for all those other areas in the archipelago which aspire to attract tourists.

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 Borobudur, Jogja

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Jogjakarta, with its magnificent architectural heritage, Lombok, Flores, not to mention Jakarta itself, are eager to bring tourists and their money to boost local economies.

President Jokowi was Jakarta’s Governor, for pity’s sake, and knows this to be true.

Meanwhile, back at the party, one Canadian demurred from the chorus of condemnation, reminding us that Ontario too has archaic, backward regulation of alcohol.

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Very true!

But it is nothing like the nightmare vision the Indonesian Government offers us, not just the kind of priggish restrictions residents of Stratford, Kitchener and Mississauga must deal with, but a ban on the very act of pouring a beer down your throat on a tropical Sunday arvo.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/04/17/bali-tourist-areas-exempt-beer-ban.html