Pelni, PT KAI struggle against ticket scalpers
JAKARTA (JP): In anticipation of rampant scalping during Christmas, New Year and the post-fasting Idul Fitri holiday, state railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) and state shipping company PT Pelni are making necessary preparations to curb the ticket brokers' operations.
Zaenal Abidin, spokesman of KAI's Jakarta Operational Division, said the company would move its ticket reservation center from Gambir Railway Station in Central Jakarta to the company's office on Jl. Veteran, also in Central Jakarta, on Dec. 23.
"We'll print each passenger's name on their tickets," he told The Jakarta Post.
"To curb their operations, we'll also deploy security personnel at certain stations to apprehend the ticket scalpers," he said.
Ticket scalpers have recently become more aggressive, compared to about three months ago. They easily, but clandestinely, sell tickets to passengers who form long queues for tickets.
Train tickets to Yogyakarta, Semarang in Central Jakarta and Bandung in West Java for the departure dates of Dec. 22 and 23 have already sold out.
Zaenal said the company had repeatedly raided the scalpers, but to no avail.
"We have often caught ticket scalpers and handed them over to the police. But the police released them one week later," he said, adding that the ticket scalpers continued their activities soon after their release.
He admitted that ticket scalping had involved the company's employees.
"We fired five employees during the last festive season, after they were proven guilty of scalping tickets," he said.
Zaenal said the company would provide 73 trains, which could carry 75,139 passengers during the upcoming holidays.
"We will also operate five additional trains to anticipate the boom in passenger numbers during the festive season. All can carry 5,502 passengers," he said.
Zaenal said people could reserve tickets up to a maximum of one week prior to their departure.
Pelni
Similarly, PT Pelni will also deploy security personnel to combat rampant ticket scalping.
"We'll deploy security personnel at ticket counters to prevent the practice," Pelni spokesman, Sudarsono, told the Post.
He said the company would also sell 75 percent of the tickets to travel agents, by offering a 2.5 percent commission for each ticket sold.
"But if they are proven to be selling tickets above the ticket price, we'll cut our contracts with them," he said.
He said the company had signed contracts with 38 travel agents in Jakarta, out of 266 travel agents throughout the country.
Sudarsono said PT Pelni would provide 23 ships with a total capacity of 39,722 passengers for the festive season.
"We predict an increase in the number of passengers by 26.41 percent compared to last year," he said.
The company, with the approval of the government, would increase the capacity of its ships to carry up to 25 to 50 percent more passengers, he said.
This is a strong increase compared to the usual raised capacity of 20 percent.
"We'll naturally have on board extra life-saving devices such as life rafts and life jackets," Sudarsono said.
In an effort to prevent rampant ticket scalping during future festive seasons, KAI would centralize the ticket reservation center at its office on Jl. Veteran in Central Jakarta, Zaenal said.
"In the future, KAI's Jakarta Operational Division will centralize all ticket selling during festive seasons at the Jl. Veteran office," he said.
"The company expects that the passengers who come to the railway stations are the ones who will depart."
"It will prevent ticket scalpers from coming to the station. The centralization will make it easier to monitor the activities of such scalpers," he said. (asa)