THE BUS MARKET ARE GETTING DOWN

Sales of commercial bus type vehicles during the first quarter of this year slumped significantly. Autobus entrepreneurs are holding back the purchase because there is no positive prospects ahead of Eid.

Based on data from the Association of Indonesian Automotive Industries (Gaikindo), retail sales of commercial vehicles during the first three months of 2018 fell 20.70 percent compared to the same period last year of 1,145 units of only 908 units. The negative sales performance of this bus is inversely proportional to the truck segment that raced quite fast during the first quarter of this year. Bus sales are still dominated by medium type buses (52%) and small type buses (47%). Sales of medium-sized buses weighing 10 - 24 tons in the first quarter of this year slumped 21.83% to 469 units, while the small type bus weighing 5-10 tons slowed 20.30% to just 428 units.

The big type bus sales weighing more than 24 tons grew 37.5%, to 11 units. However, the contribution of the subscriber bus is very small, ie 1% of total bus sales as a whole. In line with retail sales, bus shipments from manufacturers to dealerships during the first quarter of this year also slowed -22% compared to the same period last year as many as 1,220 units merged only 956 units.

Some reasons

Chairman I Gaikindo Jongkie D. Sugiarto said several possible causes of declining bus sales, such as overload capacity of the car body and the lack of available bus chassis. The overload capacity of a carbuilding company can make the sales of the bus chassis hampered. According to him, the bus company will delay purchasing the chassis first if the factory is full.

Another possibility is the availability of less bus chassis on the side of the brand holder agent. This can happen because the brand holder agent (APM) has not imported or shipped still on the way. Then, he said, bus sales also have something to do with the transportation route policy from the government. In the second quarter of this year, Gaikindo expects sales of commercial bus vehicles to return to normal.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Association of Entrepreneurs Otobus Young Indonesia (IPOMI) Kurnia Lesani Adnan revealed that the company otobus refrain from buying the bus because there is no certainty of profit earned ahead of Lebaran. That, he argues, is caused by several factors. First, the level of filling and bus occupancy is predicted to decrease even before Lebaran. This is because the holiday between the learan and school holidays together, and free homecoming programs held by the government and some parties.

He estimated that the bus occupancy rate ahead of Eid will drop by 30% this year compared to last year's Eid. The unfailing business conditions made the autopsy practitioners refrain from expanding. Second, the stock void of several chassis like Hino R260 & Mercedes-Benz OH 1526 which also became one of the causes of otobus business actors do not make a purchase. Both chassis are usually used by otobus business actors for inter-provincial intercity bus (AKAP) and tourism.