Roof top riders get sprayed, fined

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Railway operator PT Kereta Api caught more than 500 illegal passengers across four train stations on Monday as part of its train riding discipline month, the company said.

With the help of police, military and security officers, company officials fined offenders between Rp 7,500 (US$0.8) and Rp 25,000, or five times the fare, and confiscated identification cards.

Nine "roof riders" -- illegal passengers who chose to sit on the top of train cars -- were caught during the operation.

The company had threatened to spray all roof riders with a liquid dye, but officials managed only to do this at Manggarai and Serpong stations.

At other stations, officials asked roof riders to come down so they could be informed of the railway rules before being fined.

PT KA's head of public relations for Greater Jakarta Akhmad Sujadi said the company would reassess their liquid dye spraying initiative.

"We are going to move our operation bases to other stations and also position our personnel in better spots to catch the roof riders," Akhmad said.

"Roof riders were acting as if they own the trains," he said.

Six roof riders were sprayed at Manggarai station, Detik reported.

A worker, two students and three unemployed people had to hand in their identification cards and sign letters to state they would not repeat the violation.

As a train left Djuanda station Monday afternoon, packed with thousands of passengers, some were seen climbing onto the roof.

At the same station, passengers Supriyatna, 59, and his wife Ani, were questioned for riding inside the engineer's cabin.

"I didn't know that it was forbidden," Supriyatna said.

"I usually sit there when there's no more space on the train.

"I only have to pay another Rp 1,000 if there is an officer."

Another regular passenger, Iwan, said the company needed to add more cars to serve the number of passengers.

"It's not that we refuse to pay," Iwan said.

"The price is no problem, but there's just not enough space and we don't want to be late for work."

Iwan said during peak hours commuters had to struggle hard to find a place on board.

Lack of space forced passengers to use the engineer's cabin, hang onto an entrance door or ride on the roof, he said.

Vendors, beggars and buskers also take places on board and are classified as illegal passengers. (dre)