Train fares up more than 50 percent

JAKARTA: The government will increase train fares in Greater Jakarta by more than 50 percent and apply a zoning system.

The director general for land transportation at the Ministry of Transportation, Iskandar Abubakar, told a news conference on Tuesday that the fare increase would be introduced in two stages, namely a 40 percent increase effective from July 1 and 11 percent in January 2003.

He noted that from July 1, Greater Jakarta would be divided into four zones with three fares, namely zone one Rp 1,000 per passenger, zone two Rp 1,500 and zones three and four Rp 2,000.

"Tickets for each zone be different colors. Zone one tickets will be red, zone two orange, zone three yellow and zone four green," he said.

Zone one will cover the innercity between Cawang Station, Kebayoran Station and Tanjung Priok Station.

Zone two will cover the area between Kebayoran Station and Serpong Station, zone three between Pasar Minggu Station and Depok Station, and zone four between Depok and Bogor.

"The new system is being introduced to improve railway management," he said.

State railway company PT KAI's operations director Yuda Sitepu admitted that with the new system, some train trips would be more expensive, while others would cheaper.

"But it will be no problem if passengers buy monthly passes, which are much cheaper," he said. -- JP