Train ticket reservations to require ID cards

State-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) will require passengers to submit their ID card numbers when making seat reservations.

The policy, expected to be implemented in September, aims to help curb ticket scalping practices.

“A passenger is only allowed to make a reservation for one ticket, thus minimizing the role a middleman can play,” PT KAI’s public relations chief for Yogyakarta and Central Java, Eko Budiyanto, said in Yogyakarta on Thursday.

“Passengers who do not have ID cards will be issued tickets bearing their name,” Eko said.

Eko also said that in order to improve services and make travel more comfortable for passengers, boarding would begin an hour prior to departure. Tickets will be checking during boarding.

“If our staff finds a difference between the name on the ticket and the one on the ID card, the respective person will not be allowed to enter the platform area,” Eko said.

He added that tickets would be checked a second time on board the train. If a mismatch was found, he said, the ticket holder would be required to get off the train at the next stop.

Ticket reservations, Eko said, could be made 90 days prior to departure for executive, business and air-conditioned economy classes through various outlets and online reservation facilities. Economy-class reservations can only be made online seven days prior to departure.

Meanwhile, rail authorities announced plans to launch the trial of a commuter train from Surabaya to Malang early this month.

“We will try it on June 5 and 6 before starting operations by the end of the month,” spokesperson Sri Winarto said in Malang, East Java, as reported by Antara.

The commuter train, with four 65-seat cars, is scheduled to serve passengers twice a day.

Each car had standing room in the aisles for approximately 30 additional passengers, Winarto said.

Ticket prices have yet to be decided, as Winarto said that PT KAI was still waiting for word on the local administrations’ ability to provide ticket subsidies.

“We will release ticket prices soon. We are coordinating intensively with local administrations,” he said.