Business section lends train a touch of class

Business section lends train a touch of class

By Ati Nurbaiti

JAKARTA (JP): It used to be easy to spot the train from
Rangkasbitung, West Java, along the numerous tracks at Kota
station in downtown Jakarta.

"It was always the one with the cleanest roof, wiped clean by
all the passengers' bottoms. They were always the dirtiest
compared to the other passengers," says Muhari, an official at
the Sudimara station in Tangerang.

No more. The economy class passengers are still among the
dirtiest, but since last year, men in long sleeved shirts and
women with make up have also been trooping out of the blue and
green carriages coming from the same direction as the
Rangkasbitung trains.

Besides, after at least 129 economy passengers were killed in
a 1987 accident, last year a trial of electric carriages began,
which at least discourages passengers from riding on the
rooftops.

"Business class trains have improved our image," said Muhari
while speaking about the route from Serpong, Tangerang. These
trains serve the middle class commuters residing in the Bumi
Serpong Damai complex, a self proclaimed developing "independent
city".

Many of the business commuters also board at the Sudimara
station, one stop away from Serpong, because it is more
accessible to a number of housing complexes in Ciputat and Pondok
Aren.

Over 50 cars, not counting motorbikes, are parked at the
station daily. At Rp 800 (US 37 cents) for cars and Rp 500 for
motorbikes this gives the railway company considerable secondary
income. An additional fee is charged between 5 p.m. to 8 p.m..

The rest of the passengers come in public mini-vans from their
homes.

Having paid Rp 1,400 for a single trip to town, only Rp 100
more than the air-conditioned city bus, they represent a distinct
new breed of public transportation users. However, these
passengers can remain their honorable selves, luxuriously content
in the absence of congestion, mobs and reckless driving.

A couple of men dust the comfortable seats with the end of
their newspapers and in just a few swishes the green covers are
clean enough for business attire.

The train only stops at Sudimara and Tanah Abang, where most
commuters get off before reaching the end of the line at Kota,
which means standing is the exception. Most passengers continue
their morning snooze or read the newspaper swiftly handed to them
by a vendor at the station's entrance.

There are no vendors carrying baskets full of fruit, a trait
of the regular Rp 500 trains that ply the same route. The fruit
sellers must continue to battle the stink, chickens, and school
boys hanging between the overflowing carriages. On these trains
the floor is the main sitting, standing, or lying down area for
the breast-feeding mothers fighting to get close to a broken
window.

The business class trains don't pause to allow people to pile
on their bundles of durian, firewood, clay pots and whatnot. They
don't wait for a wayward driver, conductor or signalman either.

But the dirtier trains, which carry 3,000 passengers a day
from Sudimara alone, remain important to many of the hundreds of
business class passengers. They are the only trains available for
those who work overtime or who cannot make it to the station in
time in the morning.

So far the punctual trains only ply the route into town once
in the morning and once back again at 5 p.m. from Kota station.

This is why only 16 regular business class commuters from
Sudimara have opted to purchase the cheaper monthly Rp 55,000
ticket, said station chief Sudaryanto.

Darta, a bank employee, and Meike S., who works for a private
importer, regularly use the business class train but are not
adverse to taking the regular train if they can't make it to the
station on time.

"It's still better taking the cheaper trains rather than
enduring the stress of catching a bus after work," said Meike,
who added that it is important for her to feel fresh and tidy
after her morning trip to work.