Disguised officers deployed

JAKARTA: The Traffic and Transportation Control Center of the City Transportation Agency is to deploy 100 plainclothes officers purporting to be travelers as part of the effort to catch scalpers, as well as bus operators who arbitrarily increase their fares.

Head of the office, Sumadji Bolawi, said that the officers would act as ordinary passengers, queue for tickets and then join the trips, Antara reported.

He also said that passengers could file complaints by calling the City Transportation Agency at (021) 345-7471, he said.

Over the Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year period, in addition to the 1.2 million people who would travel using buses and other forms of road transportation, there would also be more than 870,000 who would travel by train, 146,000 by ship and almost 291,000 by plane, Sumadji said.

The agency had prepared 6,813 buses, including an extra 1,087 vehicles that would be put into service if necessary. --JP