A box of e-Toll cashless cards are prepared for distribution at a Bank Mandiri office in Central Jakarta, Tuesday (9/5). As of March 2017, 9 million e-money cards had been issued, generating Rp 1.21 trillion in total transactions, a 55.3 percent year-on-year increase. More than 70 percent of the transactions were used to pay toll road fees.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The plan to apply an administrative fee for topping up electronic money (e-money) cards has been deemed counterproductive to the government’s national non-cash campaign. People supporting the movement toward a cash-free capital should instead be given incentives.
Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) chair Tulus Abadi said in Jakarta on Monday (18/9/2017) that a top-up fee should not be charged to customers in order to encourage them to switch to non-cash transactions. “We will tolerate charging customers if the e-money top-up is done through a different bank [from the card issuer]. Other than that, we reject the idea,” Tulus said.
Other funding sources should be sought to cover the costs of producing the card and to procure and maintain its infrastructure, such as from the profits of the intermediary banks.
National Banking Association (Perbanas) member and Indonesian Payment System Association secretary general Sis Apik Wijayanto said that Perbanas was waiting for the central bank’s regulation on top-up fees.
Sis Apik acknowledged that banks needed funds to produce the e-money cards as well as to procure and maintain its system and infrastructure. He said that relying on e-money card sales alone might not be enough.
“The cost to produce one e-money card is Rp 20,000 (US$1.5). The card is then sold at Rp 25,000. This does not cover the costs for procuring other equipment, including electronic data capture (EDC) machines, which costs between Rp 2.5 million and Rp 3 million per unit,” he said.
Sis Apik, who also serves as PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BRI) director of institutional affairs, said that BRI was awaiting the central bank’s regulation on the matter. If the regulation stipulated a range for top-up fees, BRI would apply the lowest cost to avoid burdening its customers.
Public response
Private employee Marcia Audita, 23, a resident of Citayam, Depok, said that she rejected the plan to apply a top-up fee for e-money cards. Marcia, who uses an e-money card to take the Commuter Line train on a daily basis, said the additional fee might make customers reluctant to use the cards despite the relative ease of using the cards compared to using cash.
Transjakarta Bus rider Arif Rahman Hakim, 43, said that using e-money cards cut down transaction times. As an employee whose job required high mobility, Arif said that the numerous benefits of using e-money cards were a big help.
Private employee Sisca Susilo, 38, who works in Jakarta’s Sudirman area, said she had been using an e-money card for five years. She uses the card for all of her transactions, including purchasing train tickets, shopping at supermarkets, eating at restaurants, paying parking fees and buying tickets at children’s recreational arenas.
