Letter: Jakarta commuter service

Letter: Jakarta commuter service

| Fri, 12/09/2011 10:34 AM

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Since Dec. 1, having no other choice but to use the services of the Jakarta Commuter train to travel to Jakarta and back, Greater Jakarta commuters have experienced what can best be described as a living hell on a daily basis.

What adds gross insult to grave injury is that the authorities responsible for this daily torture of innocent Indonesian people, mainly the management of PT KAI under Ignatius Jonan, have obviously implemented new rules without adequate consideration, without thorough preparation and without providing sufficient clear and detailed guidelines for the masses who use the train services. This clearly shows incompetence and lack of professionalism on their part.

I find it unbelievable that the authorities, who have no doubt witnessed the chaos at Bogor and Manggarai train stations for several days already, have not immediately acted to improve the situation. On the contrary, they have airily stated, like Ignatius Jonan, that the commuters “will eventually get used to the situation”.

This kind of comment shows that he is totally unfit for his job, and should be immediately replaced by a more responsible and knowledgeable official. Moreover, detailed advice should be requested from experts in countries known for their truly excellent train services, such as Japan.

The stampede that occurred on Tuesday, Dec. 6, when five train passengers were injured, is just a warning of more impending disasters that are about to befall the train commuters of Greater Jakarta. All those passengers that have been and are still, riding en masse on top of the train carriages will eventually cause damage to these roofs, causing them to collapse under their weight.

And all of the passengers who, desperate to reach their destinations on time, force themselves into the railway wagons, causing them to be packed beyond their capacities, will eventually seriously damage the carriages. And this will most certainly be the cause of more accidents in the future.

Tami Koestomo
Bogor, West Java

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