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)