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Citizen journalism: A new look of railway stations
New look: Commuter rail passengers pass through turnstiles at the Pasar Minggu train station in South Jakarta
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span class="inline inline-center">New look: Commuter rail passengers pass through turnstiles at the Pasar Minggu train station in South Jakarta. State-owned railway operator PT KAI Jabodetabek, serving Greater Jakarta, has renovated many railway stations in Jakarta and its satellite cities. Courtesy of Tumpal Sujadi
Everything has changed in Pasar Minggu in East Jakarta ' including its station! Such was my first impression as I went to take a train from there to Depok.
The novelty of the view astounded me. All was fresh, all was changed from how it once was. The clear aim of the rail operator PT KAI has been to clear away the mess and disperse the cadgers and touts who haunt the station.
Six years ago I moved to a new city, six years that I hadn't seen the inside of a Jakarta station.
Yet even these long years were not enough to prepare me for the breathtaking vista. Two thumbs up!
I saw only in memory that camp of stalls, heard only in memory that dismal hubbub of hawkers and cadgers. Then the sellers' tents darkened the noontime sun, and their voices rung out with the names of their wares: electronics, fruits, clothes.
A ticket booth loomed at the station entrance. The empty-pocketed traveler could bide his time and slip through, steeling himself for a game of hide-and-seek with the guard.
Such were the recollections of my teeming memory, and as such will they remain, for the change is total. No cries break the alley's silence, no intrusions into the traveler's solitary ruminations; lights guide the way in the evening's dark.
In front of the station you can breathe fresh air amid the sun's sweet touch, watched only by a handful of ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers.
A fresh ambience pervades the ticketing area. No touts and no one inside this room, other than those whose business is ticketing, the passengers and the officials. There is also an ATM.
The ticketless now are barred from this arena; only holders of electronic cards may pass the gate, having topped up.
So thank you, PT KAI; you may have convinced this wandering son to return to the folds of the capital.
Tumpal Sujadi
Bandung
