New road takes toll on train passengers

New road takes toll on train passengers

BANDUNG: The opening of the Cikampek-Purwakarta-Padalarang
toll road, better known as the Cipularang toll road, has
considerably cut the time taken to travel from Jakarta to
Bandung.

It has also adversely affected the state-owned railway company
PT Kereta Api (PT KAI).

The data shows a drop of up to 30 percent in the number of
people traveling by rail. In a workshop on railway affairs held
in Panghegar Hotel, Bandung, on Aug. 5, 2005, a transportation
expert from Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Harun Al
Rasyid, said that while in March 2005 the number of passengers
traveling from Bandung to Jakarta on the Argogede train was
recorded at over 50,000, in April the number dropped to 34,000
passengers.

Even after the official Cipularang toll rate went into effect,
the number of rail passengers continued to decline, leaving only
23,000 people traveling from Bandung to Jakarta by train from
early July to early August this year.

Harun suggested that PT. KAI should reduce the price of rail
tickets by up to 10 percent and cut delays from half an hour to a
maximum of 10 minutes.

"Unless measures are taken immediately to prevent the
worsening of this condition, the railway business will face a
serious threat," he added. --JP