PT KAI claims lost revenue is due to non-paying passengers

Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post, Purwokerto

State train operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) is cracking down on free-riding passengers, whose numbers have increased significantly recently, causing the company to suffer large financial losses.

PT KAI president director Oemar Bertho said the operation to put an end to illegal passengers would take place at all railroad stations.

Speaking to reporters while making an impromptu inspection of the Purwokerto railroad station in Central Java, Oemar said fare- dodging passengers could be found not only in economy-class cars, but also on business and executive-class cars.

"We will take stern action against illegal passengers and all train crew members who cooperate with them," he said, adding that over the last two month the company had lost some 7 percent of its targeted revenue to these passengers.

"This year we are targeting an income of Rp 2 trillion. The target is subject to monthly evaluation, and in the last two months we only able to realize about 93 percent (of the target) as some 7 percent had been lost due to the illegal passengers," he said.

According to Oemar, there is as yet no data on the exact number of illegal passengers riding the trains or exactly how much money these passengers were costing the company.

But he cited Purwokerto as an example of the growing problem. Last month, some 1,120 non-paying passengers were caught on business and executive-class trains in Purwokerto. In February, only 700 passengers were caught.

PT KAI's public relations chief in Purwokerto, Supriyadi, told the press that many of these passengers were fined and allowed to remain on the trains, while the rest were asked to leave their train because did not have the money to pay their fines.

"The total amount of fines we collected only added up to some Rp 80 million, which is far less than we targeted during the period," said Supriyadi.

He noted that the crackdown on illegal passengers was being carried out by about 100 staff members of PT KAI, in cooperation with special train police.

"We have found a surprising number of illegal passengers are members of the military or police. We have found it difficult to handle them," he said.

According to him, in Purwokerto those passengers not paying fares accounts for up to 10 percent of the total number of passengers.

Oemar said that besides non-paying passengers, the company's finances were also affected by floods, landslides and damage to railway tracks in Central Java earlier this year.

He also said that although gasoline prices had increased, KAI had no plans to raise its fares because the company did not believe the fuel price hike would have much of an impact on its bottom line.

According to him, the company would likely minimize its operational costs by cutting back on the food and beverages served on executive-class cars.

"I don't think we need to raise our rates. We can still minimize our costs to compensate for the gasoline price increase," he said.