New tariff benefits commuters, says KCJ

JAKARTA. Jakarta electric train operator PT KAI Commuter Jabodetabek (KCJ) announced on Thursday the fares for a new distance-based scheme, saying that most prices have decreased and are more equitable for passengers.

KCJ president director Tri Handoyo said the implementation of the new system would run as scheduled by June 1. Electronic ticketing (e-ticket) equipment deployment to support the new fare application has reached 90 percent and will be installed at all stations across Greater Jakarta by this week, he added.

“Most fares have decreased. This pricing policy is fairer because passengers pay according to what they get,” Tri told a press conference on Thursday.

KCJ recorded that users for the e-ticketing system had reached 10,000 passengers per day after its first trial on April 8. It expects the number to reach 200,000 after the official deployment, and could pass 450,000 passengers daily, as when paper tickets were used.

Tickets will be sold at Rp 3,000 (30 US cents) for the first five stations traveled and Rp 1,000 for every three additional stations.

Passengers commuting from Bekasi station will only pay Rp 4,000 and Rp 6,000 to travel to Manggarai and Jakarta Kota stations respectively, while they have paid Rp 8,500 since October 2012.

By the end of May, 61 stations throughout Greater Jakarta will be equipped with e-ticketing gates, Tri said.

There are a total of 390 gates in the stations used by KCJ across Greater Jakarta, while the company currently operates 270 e-ticketing points of sale (POS).

With the new scheme, passengers will have to carry their e-ticket, in the form of a card, to their point of exit. Individuals passing their destinations will not be able to exit stations and should return to their point of departure.

However, Tri said the use of e-tickets at the University of Indonesia (UI) station may be postponed following resistance from students on any sort of street vendor relocation from the premises.

“So for the time being, trains will not stop at UI station,” he said.

Tri said KCJ was also slated to launch a rehargable multi-trip e-ticket for regular passengers in July.

(Fikri Zaki Muhammadi/The Jakarta Post)