Perumka raises fares for executive, business class

Perumka raises fares for executive, business class

BANDUNG, West Java (JP): The state-owned railway company
Perumka raises its fares today for executive and business class
passengers, both for long and short-distance services in Java, by
a range of one to 16 percent.

A Perumka spokesman, Soeprapto, said at the company's
headquarters here yesterday that the highest rate increase of
16.66 percent will affect the business class fare of the Mutiara
Timur service linking Surabaya in East Java and Denpasar in Bali,
and the Parahyangan trains linking Jakarta and Bandung raising
the ticket price from Rp 12,000 to Rp 14,000 each.

Passengers of Mutiara Timur are transported with a train from
Surabaya to Banyuwangi at the eastern tip of Java and with a bus
from Banyuwangi to Denpasar and vice versa.

The spokesman said the fare of the business class of the
Jayabaya train linking Jakarta with Surabaya is to increase by
15.38 percent from Rp 26,000 to Rp 30,000.

The hikes of other services vary from 1.06 percent -- for the
Mutiara Utara train linking Jakarta and Surabaya from Rp 94,000
to Rp 95,000 -- to 13.04 percent -- for the Mutiara Selatan
linking Surabaya and Bandung from Rp 23,000 to Rp 26,000.

The chief of the Gambir railway station in Jakarta, Hadi
Suseno, told The Jakarta Post Wednesday that the management of
Perumka notified the chiefs of operation throughout the country
of the new fares last week.

Soeprapto said yesterday that the hikes, as stipulated by an
Oct. 28 decision of Perumka's president Anwar Supriadi, were made
due to rises in maintenance costs and operational costs.

The spokesman said that the fares for cargo and economy class
services would not be raised. "Only the government can raise the
fares of both categories," he added.

Reasonable

Meanwhile, chairman of the Commission V of the House of
Representative M. Diran said that the increased railway fares for
non-economy classes were reasonable.

"I hope it will improve the service of Perumka," he said.

Commission V deals with transportation, telecommunications,
public housing and public works.

Diran warned that the government must be very careful not to
increase economy class fares in the near future as such a move
may stir public unrest.

The new fares, which will affect 30 trains in Java, include
those for the executive class of the Parahyangan trains (linking
Jakarta with Bandung), set at Rp 25,000, the Senja Utama
(Jakarta-Yogyakarta) at Rp 46,000 for the executive class and Rp
35,000 for the business class, Fajar Utama Semarang (Jakarta-
Semarang) at Rp 42,000 for the executive class and Rp 31,000 for
the business class, Depok Ekspres (Jakarta-Depok) at Rp 2,000,
Pakuan (Jakarta-Bogor) Rp 4,000 for the executive class and Rp
3,000 for the business class.

According to Soeprapto, fares for six trains in South and
North Sumatra, comprising Sriwijaya (Kertapati-Tanjung Karang),
Rajabasa (Kertapati-Tanjung Karang), Sindang Marga (Lubuk
Linggau-Kertapati), Fajar (Kertapati-Tanjung Karang), Bukit Sulap
(Lubuk Linggau-Kertapati) and Sribilah Utama (Medan-Rantauprapat)
have not been increased as the region's economy is still not as
strong as Java's. (pet/icn)