Idul Fitri train tickets sell out in hours
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakartans have not wasted their time in racing out for train tickets to their hometowns for next month’s Idul Fitri holidays.
Gambir station in the center of the city saw lines of people forming as early as 3 a.m. Sunday for tickets that were snapped up in a matter of hours.
State-owned railway company PT Kereta Api had decided to issue additional tickets for those who missed out on last week’s ticket reservation, which sold out last week.
Kereta Api’s Greater Jakarta spokesman Ahmad Sujadi said the queues formed long before the ticket booths’ opening time of 7 a.m.
“Most of them bought the executive class tickets to Malang and Surabaya in East Java and Semarang and Yogyakarta in Central Java,” he said, as quoted by news portal Detik.com.
Ahmad added that the additional executive class tickets for the Jakarta-Malang and Jakarta-Yogyakarta trains between Oct. 10 and 12 had sold out.
Sujadi said Kereta Api would provide even more tickets to discourage people from buying tickets from scalpers.
“If no one buys tickets from the scalpers, their business will cease by itself,” he said.
Besides additional tickets for executive and business class, Kereta Api will also provide additional economy class seats between Oct. 10 and 12.
“However, people can’t make ticket reservations for economy class. They have to wait in line before the departure time,” he said.
While train tickets have proved popular, no one has so far reserved ferry tickets at Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta.
A travel agent there said many ship passengers were switching to planes because they were faster, despite the more expensive ticket price.
Some people have decided to forgo public transport for the holiday, making the switch to faster, cheaper — and much more dangerous — motorcycles.
A taxi driver, Priono, 52, said he would ride his motorcycle to his village in Wonogiri, Solo.
“It’s a lot cheaper than taking a bus. I can spend up to Rp 450,000 (US$47.90) if I take a bus, while I only spent Rp 100,000 during last year’s Idul Fitri riding on a motorcycle,” he said. (08)
Source: The Jakarta Post
Add comment September 17th, 2007