An employee walks past Experience, an LRT train, in Jakarta. - Antara
JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network): State-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (PT KAI) is set to open a public trial of the Greater Jakarta LRT on Wednesday (July 12). The trial run will last until Aug 15, and full public service is set to begin on Aug 18, the company has said.
During the trial, the LRT will offer a total of four trips a day stopping at three stations: Dukuh Atas Station in Jakarta; Harjamukti Station in Cibubur, West Java; and Jatimulya Station in Bekasi, West Java.
Each trip will be limited to 150 passengers, meaning the LRT will serve a maximum of 600 people per day during the trial.
Prospective passengers must register through a link posted on the Greater Jakarta LRT’s social media accounts, where they will be asked to provide their personal information and choose a date to book a seat.
Tickets will each cost Rp 1, less than a hundredth of a United States penny, for the one-month trial period, and passengers will be charged between Rp 5,000 (33 US cents) and Rp 25,000 once the LRT begins full operations.
Construction of the LRT commenced in 2015 and the line was initially set to start running for the 2018 Asian Games, but the project faced a number of delays resulting from funding and land acquisition constraints.
By 2021, the project was more than Rp 2.7 trillion over budget, according to the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Ministry.
Authorities have said that once the Greater Jakarta LRT is fully operational, it will be able to carry up to 500,000 passengers per day. With 18 stations along a 44km route, the LRT service is expected to help alleviate Greater Jakarta’s chronic traffic problems.
The LRT and the existing Commuter Line train, which runs along a similar route, will together be able to carry some 1.7 million passengers per day.
Jakarta also has an MRT that connects the Hotel Indonesia (HI) traffic circle with Lebak Bulus along its North-South Line, which serves an average of nearly 70,000 people a day. The government is considering extending the LRT network farther south and east from Jakarta to include Bogor city and Karawang regency, both located in West Java.
Currently, the line reaches Depok, West Java, to the south and Bekasi regency, West Java, to the east.
Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said in June that officials were conducting a feasibility study on the extension.
If the proposed additions were built, he said, the LRT network could serve more passengers and would reduce Jakarta’s traffic and pollution further.
