KRL Users Protest That Travel Routes Have Been Changed: Public Transportation Reduces Transit, It Actually Increases Transit

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA – The electric rail transportation (KRL) user community who are members of KRLmania, criticized the policy of changing local train routes in the Jabodetabek area which took effect today.

KRLmania Coordinator, Nurcahyo, said that his party had received input indicating that the majority of opinions objected to the new rules for travel routes.

The reason is, PT KCI as the KRL manager is considered not to pay attention to the comfort and safety aspects of passengers during this transition process.

"What we want to emphasize is that the ideal concept in public transportation is to reduce transit, not increase passenger transit as is the case at this time," he said in an official statement received by VOI on Saturday, May 28.

According to Nurcahyo, the readiness of the operators is also a concern. The reason is, if there is a problem in the transit process, it will very likely cause KRL users to switch to using private vehicles.

It is considered to be burdensome for road transportation.

"The readiness of Manggarai Station as the main transit station has not yet become part of the minimum service standards as in the 2019 SPM. Not to mention the location of the platform is quite high and there are stairs that are quite steep so it is very heavy for seniors and children. This has the potential to increase the number of passengers," he said.

Nurcahyo added that another problem found was that the Bogor and Bekasi crossing schedules needed to be adjusted so that the transit could run smoothly. This can be helped by a feeder considering that Bogor crossing has the highest occupancy, reaching 60 percent.

"For this reason, we encourage PT KCI to prioritize a good customer experience, so that user comfort and safety is a priority in every policy-making," he said.

For information, this change in operating pattern will take effect on May 28, 2022 with the aim of supporting the construction of the DDT project which is planned to be completed in 2023 and the preparation of Manggarai Station as a central transit station in 2025.

As a result of this change, the traffic line from Bogor-Nambo will only go to Jakarta Kota Station. This means that from St. Bogor there are no longer trains to St. Bogor. Sudirman, St. Angke, and St. Kp. Bandan.

As for the Bekasi-Cikarang route, the route will circle stations in Jakarta from two directions (pattern A and B) which is called a full racket loop.

Meanwhile, pattern A is St. Cikarang. Cikarang/Bekasi – Jatinegara – Manggarai – Kampung Bandan – Pasar Senen – Jatinegara – Bekasi/Cikarang.

While pattern B is circling from the opposite direction, namely from Cikarang/Bekasi – Jatinegara – Pasar Senen – Kampung Bandan – Manggarai – Jatinegara – Bekasi/Cikarang.

Plus one more route that only takes half a turn, called the half racket loop, namely from Cikarang/Bekasi – Jatinegara – Manggarai - Tanah Abang - Angke (PP).