Suherdjoko and Bambang Muryanto, Semarang/Yogyakarta – Protests conducted by public transportation drivers against diesel fuel scarcity as a result of the government's diesel fuel restriction policy are continuing nationwide.

In Temanggung, Central Java, dozens of public bus drivers serving Magelang, Wonosobo and Sukorejo went on strike on Thursday by marching to the Temanggung Transportation, Communication and Information Agency.

The drivers said they found it very difficult to buy diesel in the last two months. They also protested against those gas stations that allowed diesel purchases using jerry cans.

In response, agency head Dwi Cahyono said he would ban gas stations from selling diesel fuel in jerry cans. "Hopefully the scarcity will also end by Friday," he said.

Public bus drivers in Karanganyar regency, Central Java, also staged a strike, leaving thousands of passengers, including junior high school students who were on their final test day, with little options.

The situation forced local authorities, including the police, to help transport passengers using the regency's operational cars and even officials' cars.

"We've been doing what we can to help transport people since this morning," Karanganyar Transportation, Communication and Information Agency head Nunung Susanto said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, a similar strike was also held by hundreds of inter-city bus drivers serving routes connecting Yogyakarta with cities in Central Java. They demanded the government raise the price of diesel instead of limiting its supply.

"If the government can no longer afford the diesel fuel subsidy, just raise the price. Limiting its supply only gives us trouble," a protester, Jarwo Santoso, of PO Riyan and Antar Jaya bus companies, told reporters at Giwangan bus station in Yogyakarta on Wednesday.

Jarwo said that a bus was only allowed to buy 44 liters of diesel fuel worth Rp 200,000 (US$20.58) per purchase. If a bus needed more fuel, it had to queue to get another 44 liters of diesel fuel without a guarantee that it would get the fuel.

"The President [Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono] must have the guts to firmly come up with a policy to raise the price of diesel fuel. Don't be afraid of being unpopular just because of the upcoming [2014] general elections," Jarwo said.

Separately, external relations assistant manager Heppy Wulansari of Pertamina Marketing Operation Region I overseeing Central Java and Yogyakarta marketing offices said Pertamina had increased the supply of subsidized diesel fuel by 30 percent from 4,554 kiloliters (kl) to 5,920 kl daily since Tuesday.

In North Sumatra, Pertamina Marketing Operation Region I overseeing Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau and Riau Islands, was also said to have increased its diesel fuel supply for the area by 20 percent from the daily quota of 7,259 kl.

Customer relations officer Sonny Mirath said the increase from Wednesday was to help cut the long queues at gas stations in the region.

Long queues at gas stations were also seen in Jambi in the last two weeks, partly due to the decreasing fuel supply for the region. Pertamina Jambi's spokesman Arif Wahyu said that the supply had been cut from 13.9 kl daily last year to the current 8.4 kl.

Yet, Arif assured the decreasing quota had nothing to do with the diesel fuel scarcity in the region as it could be caused by increasing demand for the fuel.

[Jon Afrizal and Apriadi Gunawan contributed to this article from Jambi and Medan.]