No free ride

No free ride

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of people from Bekasi were fined for riding the Jakarta-Surabaya train with no tickets on Saturday.

The people, who had tickets for the Bekasi-Jakarta commuter train, boarded the Surabaya-Jakarta train at Jatinegara station after waiting for the commuter train for more than two hours.

The Surabaya-Jakarta train travels from Bekasi to Jatinegara and finally to Gambir station in Jakarta.

When the Surabaya-Jakarta train arrived at Jatinegara, a team of Perumka railway official boarded the train to ask the passengers for their tickets.

None of those who boarded at Bekasi had tickets. The "hitch hikers", mostly female employees working the night shift, had to surrender their ID cards or pay Rp 7,500 for the fare.

"I showed my empty wallet, but still the officials asked for the fine," one of the riders was quoted by Antara as saying.

"Their treatment was inhumane," said Rita, a Bekasi woman who works in Jakarta. (sur)