Scalping rampant at railway ticket reservations center

Scalping rampant at railway ticket reservations center

JAKARTA (JP): The scalping of railway tickets continues
unabated although state railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia
(KAI) has centralized all ticket reservations for Jakarta at the
company's office on Jl. Veteran in Central Jakarta.

Ticket scalpers were seen surrounding this central ticket
reservation center, called Nanida, although security personnel
were guarding the center's main door.

Meanwhile, dozens of people lined up at the center for a
chance to purchase tickets.

Thursday was the first day the centralized reservation center
was open. In the past, train tickets were sold at Gambir station
in Central Jakarta.

As of Thursday, all tickets for trains to Java's main cities
-- Surabaya, Solo and Yogyakarta -- were sold out until Sunday.

The only tickets available were for the executive-class Argo
Bromo train plying the route to the Central Java capital of
Semarang.

Andry and Harsono, both employees at a private company in
Jakarta, were disappointed there were no more tickets available
at the reservation office and decided to purchase tickets from
scalpers.

A scalper approached Andry as he was standing in front of the
reservation center's ticket information board, asking Andry to
follow him outside the office for the transaction.

Andry said he paid Rp 520,000 for two tickets on the Argo
Bromo Executive Anggrek to Surabaya on Friday.

"The official price is Rp 190,000 per ticket, so he (the
scalper) earned a profit of Rp 70,000 per ticket," he told The
Jakarta Post.

Andry said purchasing the tickets from a scalper was his only
option.

"Airplane tickets are very expensive. Meanwhile, it will take
us a long time to get to Surabaya by bus," he said.

Andry said the train journey would take nine hours from
Jakarta to Surabaya.

In response to the scalping of tickets at the reservation
center, the spokesman of PT KAI's Jakarta Operational Division,
Zaenal Abidin, said the center had deployed scores of security
personnel to put an end to the practice.

"PT KAI's security personnel have identified scalpers who used
to operate at Gambir station, so they must keep the scalpers from
buying tickets here," Zaenal said at the center.

He admitted there were still leakages at the ticket center.

"The ticket scalpers might ask other people to buy tickets for
them, so that our security personnel cannot identify them as
scalpers," he said.

Zaenal urged the government to set tough penalties for ticket
scalping.

"Currently, there are no strict rules to prevent ticket
scalping. The government should enact a regulation setting strict
punishments for ticket scalpers," he said. (asa)