No more bus tickets to Sumatra available

No more bus tickets to Sumatra available

JAKARTA (JP): Bus tickets to Sumatra destinations from Feb. 8
to Feb. 25 are no longer available at Pulo Gadung and Rawamangun
bus terminals.

An employee of the ANS bus company confirmed yesterday that
all the tickets have been sold. "Passengers in groups had
reserved the tickets. We did not sell the tickets to scalpers or
brokers," she said. ANS buses ply the Jakarta-Padang, West
Sumatra route.

Syafrudin, a ticket broker operating at the Rawamangun bus
terminal, said that all bus tickets for economy and business
classes were sold earlier this year. "People who were used to
going by plane are taking executive class buses this year," he
said.

Pulo Gadung and Rawamangun are the authorized terminals for
buses plying the Sumatra routes.

This situation has been used by ticket brokers to offer Idul
Fitri holiday revelers private vehicles for rent.

"If you really want to go to your home town, I can manage it.
You can go home safely for the same fee. That's the important
thing," he told a group of people who wanted to go to Padang.

The normal fee a for non-AC (economy class) bus ticket to
Padang is Rp 40,000 per person.

The business class tariff is Rp 75,000 per person and Rp
100,000 for executive class.

All eight bus companies which have ticket sales counters in
the two terminals, including the private bus company ALS and the
state-owned bus company Damri (for Jakarta-Padang-Medan in both
directions), have run out of tickets.

Bus companies plying Central and East Java routes, such as the
Putra Gunung Kidul, Tunggal Jaya and Dahlia Indah, sell tickets
to prospective passengers just before departure. "We don't offer
a reservation service," a Putra Gunung Kidul bus company employee
said.

Some bus companies which have routes to Java distribute
membership cards to people who always go to their hometowns for
the Idul Fitri holidays. In certain circumstances the members get
privileges for loyalty.

"Membership cards are not valid in the peak weak of the Idul
Fitri celebration," an employee said. "However if the members
want to book all the seats on a bus it may be considered." he
said.

Meanwhile, some bus companies have complained about the
government's decision to raise fares by 25 percent, saying that
the increase is too small.

"People should pay more for the addition of the security
officer," Andi, an officer of a bus company, in the Pulo Gadung
East Jakarta terminal said.

He said operational costs during the Idul Fitri will also be
higher.

The director general of land transportation at the Ministry of
Transportation, Soejono has warned bus companies not to increase
their fares.

"We will revoke operational permits if they violate the
decision," Soejono said on Tuesday.

He said that his office had frozen the operational permits of
53 bus companies for 18 months last year for increasing fares
illegally.

He added that if bus crews continue to violate the rules, the
government will revoke their permits for good.(04)