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Commuter line reports fewer delays in second week of new schedule
These delays caused the number of passengers waiting to board trains to swell, especially during peak hours.
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Commuters buy tickets at Sudirman Station on Jan. 10, 2015, as a commuter line officer looks on.PT Kereta Commuter Indonesia (KCI)introduced a new schedule for trains serving Greater Jakarta at the start of December. (The Jakarta Post/Seto Wardhana)
W
hen the commuter line operator introduced a new schedule for trains serving Greater Jakarta at the start of December, glitches resulted in many delays, causing confusion and frustration among stranded passengers.
PT Kereta Commuter Indonesia (KCI) says it has overcome the problems and most trains departed on time Monday.
Under the new 2019 train route graphics schedule, KCI has increased its services to 1,057 trips a day using 90 trains, from 945 trips with 81 trains. The train service serves up to 1.2 million people a day commuting between Jakarta and the adjacent towns of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi.
Poor preparations had clearly undermined the operator’s good intentions to offer better service. In the first three days of the new schedule’s implementation, trains were delayed, many for up to 30 minutes. By Dec. 5, the average delay time was cut to 10 minutes.
Many passengers were also not fully informed about the changes, including the fact that they could take advantage of the improved services if only they took shorter rides with one or two transits, rather than one train that took them straight to their destination.
Some of the glitches were apparently technical, as some commuter trains were shifting to tracks used by intercity trains. PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), the parent company of KCI, has added 38 trips to serve Gambir and Pasar Senen, two main intercity stations.
“Because we [ the commuter line and intercity trains] share tracks, it has taken some time to adjust the new schedule,” KCI spokesperson Anne Purba said.
