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)