Train Tickets Sold Out 3 Months Prior to Eid Holiday

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Dadang Rachman stood near the ticketing booth at Senen Train Station in Central Jakarta to answer the inquiries made by scores of passengers that has crowded the area on Friday, April 17, 2015. Every now and then, he ushered the crowd towards the board that displays the schedule for regular services near the booth - but most of the time, he spent his day by uttering a single phrase: "The tickets are sold out."

His brisk response is his answer to the barrage of questions asked by passengers looking for tickets for services on July 16, 2015 - the day before the Eid Holiday of 2015. Although the date is still three months away, but the majority of tickets for that date has been sold out - hunted to extinction by hordes of would-be passengers who are looking to spend the holiday period at their respective hometowns.

When Tempo arrived at Senen Station on Friday, April 17, 2015, a banner had already been put in place, notifying hopeful passengers that tickets for regular Gaya Baru Evening services, as well Matarmaja, Kertajaya, and Brantas services between July 10-16, 2015, have been sold out.

The same goes for Bengawan, Progo, Tawangjaya, and Kutojaya Utara services - tickets for services that departs nine days until the last day prior to the fall of the Eid holiday has been sold out. The only tickets remaining are for Cirebon Express services on July 15 and 16, 2015.

PT KAI's Director of Commerce, Bambang Eko Martono said that the majority of tickets for regular services prior to the fall of the Eid Holiday has been sold out - the cause of which is PT KAI's decision to allow the sale of those tickets 90 days prior to the actual departure date, both from official ticketing booths, as well as online and through other official ticket retailers spread across the country.

As such, Martono said that PT KAI are currently working out the number of extra services that the company could provide in order to accommodate the ballooning demand - whcih is still limited by the number of fleet that PT KAI could operate without disrupting other services under its management.

"We plan to release the schedule for additional Eid services on Wednesday or Thursday next week," said Martono to Tempo on Friday.

Martono said that the several of the carriages that are due to be operated to complement the regular services are still currently undergoing maintenance at PT KAI's service depots. Last year, PT KAI managed to scramble an additional 14 train sets - consisting of 7 economy trains and 7 commercial trains - to help accommodate the ballooning demand. Martono said that PT KAI will strive to provide at least the same number of train sets to alleviate the stress caused by the holiday exodus.

"We will release the schedule for Eid services as soon as we can, in order to provide some certainty for these hopeful passengers. As such, they could immediately arrange an alternative mode of transport should the additional services could not meet the demand," said Martono.

KHAIRUL ANAM