Economy train tickets sold out to Dec. 4
Economy train tickets sold out to Dec. 4
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Holidaymakers who want to make their Idul Fitri hometown journey
from Pasar Senen railway station will have to struggle for the
remaining limited seats as all tickets until Dec. 4 have been
sold out.
Pasar Senen station in Central Jakarta offers seats on nine
business class trains and eight economy class trains bound for
cities in Central Java and East Java with a total of 11,000 seats
available daily.
Business trains Fajar Utama Semarang and Senja Utama Semarang,
for example, travel to Semarang for a fare of Rp 45,000 (US$5).
The trains leave at 6:45 a.m. and 6:50 p.m. respectively.
Economy train Tawang Jaya travels the same route but the train
fare costs only Rp 31,500 while another train, Kerta Jaya
connects Pasar Senen with Surabaya Pasar Turi station with a fare
of Rp 34,000.
"All tickets for business class trains until next Wednesday
have been sold out. We expect Monday to Wednesday next week to be
the peak in the exodus of travelers departing from this station,"
Pasar Senen railway station master, Sugeng Setianto, told The
Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
"On Thursday, we will sell tickets for trains departing next
Thursday. Our counters will open from 5 a.m.," he added.
The situation in Pasar Senen was still quiet on Wednesday
without any sign of passengers crowding the platform. But several
travelers had already taken their place to anticipate Thursday's
ticket sales for Dec. 4.
"All trains have carried less than 100 percent of their
capacity so far," said Sugeng.
"Business trains are allowed to carry up to 125 percent of its
capacity in non-seat passengers while economy trains are
permitted to carry up to 150 percent."
Pasar Senen railway station caters for the middle to lower
income group, while the ticket reservation center on Jl. Djuanda,
Central Jakarta focuses its service on passengers from the middle
to high income groups selling train tickets for business and
executive classes.
State-owned train operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (PT KAI)
expects there will be a total of 185,000 passengers departing
from Jakarta while the total seating capacity of the trains is
only 170,000.
The company, however, will not provide Sapujagat trains to
carry excess passengers unlike in previous years.
These trains were last-minute economy class trains provided by
the company to bring holidaymakers to their hometown after they
were unable to get tickets on the regular and additional trains.
"We will just utilize our locomotives to their maximum
capacity. Each locomotive can pull some 12 cars," PT KAI director
of operations, Juda Sitepu, told reporters on Monday.
"We, however, provide 29 special Idul Fitri trains to carry
the passengers. A special train will be dispatched if a regular
train cannot carry all the passengers."
The company will also add the number of trips to carry more
passengers.
"A train, traveling between Jakarta and Yogyakarta for
example, would usually stop in Yogyakarta and return to Jakarta
the following day.
"But the train can immediately return to Jakarta, allowing the
train to carry more passengers," said Juda.
He also said that the company had asked the police to deploy
elite Mobile Brigade officers at strategic places such as long
bridges.