Observing The First Day Of LRT Use With Commercial Tariffs

LRT Jakarta (Photo: Twitter @lrtjkt)

JAKARTA - Today, Sunday, December 1, Jakarta Light Rail Transit (LRT) officially applies commercial tariffs. Tickets are sold for IDR 5,000, after receiving a 30 percent subsidy from the DKI Jakarta Regional Budget. But in fact, there are people who don't know about it and think LRT is still in the public trial period, aka free.

Karman, for example, is a resident of Pulogadung who brought his two nephews to try out the LRT from Veldrom station to Pulogadung. He thought the LRT was still free. However, upon arriving at the station, the officer on duty announced that the public trial period had ended since Saturday, November 30.

"I was asked to pay Rp. 15,000 for three passengers," he said.

Likewise, Wendy (29), a resident of Duren Sawit, East Jakarta, did not know that the LRT was using commercial tickets today. "At first I thought it was still free, it turned out that when I saw the notice board on the glass window there was a fee," he said.

The application of this LRT commercial ticket starts at 5.30 WIB. The fare of IDR 5,000 per passenger for this ticket applies flat at all LRT stations which can be obtained through cash or non-cash transactions.

The Jakarta LRT has been undergoing trials for nearly five months since June 2019 with all passengers free. The number of passengers is claimed to increase every month. In fact, the number of passengers is said to have touched one million customers before commercial operations.

For ticket purchases, Passengers can use an electronic money card for a number of banks that work with LRT, including Bank DKI, Bank Mandiri, Bank BCA, BNI and BRI.

After the revocation of this public trial period, the Jakarta LRT management is optimistic that it will be able to reach the target of 14,000 passengers per day. The Managing Director of LRT Jakarta Wijanarko explained that the results of the evaluation of the public test from June to November showed an average of 7,400 passengers per day at the six departure stations.

However, LRT management also acknowledged that there was a decrease in passengers in August 2019, to 6,000 passengers per day. General Manager of Operations and Services of PT. LRT Jakarta Aditya Kesuma said that the cause of the decline in passengers was one of the causes at that time was a blackout event (blackout).

After that, from September to November 2019, the number of passengers stabilized again at 7,400 people per day. LRT management is also optimistic that the Ministry of Transportation's target of 14,000 LRT passengers per day can be realized.

For today, in order to welcome commercial operations, LRT Jakarta is holding its first simple train release activity at Pegangsaan Dua Station, Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, at 05.00 WIB. The activity which was attended by the board of directors and management of the Jakarta LRT in the context of socializing the application of commercial rates.

In addition, LRT Jakarta collaborates with WWF Indonesia in providing new experiences for users as well as education and socialization about the importance of using public transportation. The activity was also filled with entertainment programs in the afternoon at Boulevard Utara Station in the form of angklung performances, tiger pong games, and virtual games.