Scalpers still operate in Gambir

Scalpers still operate in Gambir

Leo Wahyudi S, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Ticket scalpers were still hanging around at Gambir railway
station, Central Jakarta on Friday, four days after idul Fitri.

They moved around freely, approaching would-be passengers with
offers of tickets for several destinations.

Iskandar, who planned to travel to Malang, East Java, with his
wife, said that he had reluctantly agreed to buy tickets from a
scalper as he could not get any from the ticket office.

The couple paid Rp 200,000, while the official fare was only
Rp 150,000.

In Gambir, there were several long queues for Bandung and
Cirebon, West Java, and Purwokerto, Central Java.

"I'd rather buy a ticket myself," said a young man, who had
been lining up for two hours.

Two hours, however, was nothing compared with last week, when
people had to spend the night at the station before struggling
for a ticket.

Security officers noticed that the scalpers were there, but
they simply ignored them, even though they had pledged earlier to
crack down on them.

A different situation was observed at the reservations office
at Jl. Juanda, Central Jakarta, where not a single ticket scalper
dared to show up near the people queuing for executive train
tickets.

"We use a personal approach when dealing with scalpers," the
commander of a group of 10 Mobile Brigade security personnel told
The Jakarta Post.

Meanwhile, records indicated that around 13,200 passengers
departed from Gambir on Thursday, an increase of around 16
percent compared with regular departures at the station.

A total of 32,700 passengers departed from Jakarta's eight
railway stations on Thursday, meaning there was a 10 percent
decrease in the number of people who had left on Wednesday,
Zainal Abidin, the spokesman of state railway company PT Kereta
Api Indonesia, said.

All the economy seats for departures this weekend were already
sold out on Friday, while a few were still available for
executive trains.