The memory of Wiwig, 32, goes back in time before the Covid-19 pandemic every time he goes up train leadership. There was something missing from the luxury of the carriage in which she was traveling now, it was not perfumed, even the luxurious effect was gone.
Banjarnegara resident Wiwig is a customer of the train. He often works out of town. Also, when he returns home he regularly takes the Jakarta-Puwokerto (PP) round-trip train. Since the pandemic, the frequency of taking the train has been more scheduled. This is because he can work anywhere as long as he has an office in Jakarta every two months.
“After the pandemic, the office implemented a new policy, being able to work from home once every two months. So, I take the Jakarta-Purwokerto pp train regularly. After the pandemic, the train prices have increased quite significantly” Wiwig said in a conversation with detikTravel.
“You do train ticket it really feels. Before the pandemic, I could get an executive ticket for Jakarta – Purwokerto one way, which cost IDR 220,000, but now it is IDR 290,000. It is the cheapest sub-class and you can tell it is always out of stock. Most often you get tickets for IDR 320 thousand. This is also the Purwojaya train, not Argo Lawu or Argo Dwipangga or Taksaka, whose ticket prices can go up to IDR 400,000 and above. It’s not a choice hehehe,” Wiwig said.
“This is the ticket price during the normal period. Don’t ask about the ticket prices during the peak season such as Christmas and last New Year’s,” he stressed.
Even though the price of train tickets has increased, Wiwig is still not interested in buying economy class train tickets. Because he needs comfort along the way. From time to time, she had to work on the railway.
Unfortunately, the Purwojaya train, even though it has an executive label, doesn’t show its class. Starting from the paint on the carriages that look cheap to the shabby fittings inside the carriages.
“The Purwojaya train is executive, but the interior of the car is old now, I don’t know, the executive trains are not as rich as they used to be. The seats are really ugly, the seats are upholstered in leather but they have feathers. So, it seems to get on a bus, not a train. It’s very different from the previous executive’s train seats, the chair had a blue velvet cover, the carpet was also blue and… it smelled really, really good,” he said Wiwig.
“From the outside it doesn’t look luxurious. The body was white. Now the silver box looks like a box of crackers,” he added.
The atmosphere in the executive train carriage is considered inversely proportional to business and economy trains. The class that was mentioned last has gotten even sippier.
Online, a similar assessment was given by Ari Dwi Setyadi. Bekasi resident also has high mobility from Jakarta to Solo, even to Surabaya and Banyuwangi.
Ari assessed that the executive car interiors needed updating in line with the significant price increase in that class.
“Executive train carriages are really old school. And the tickets will seem expensive compared to the facilities. If we travel by bus with a ticket price of Rp. 400-500 thousand from Jakarta to Yogyakarta, we can already get a ‘sultan bus, with reclining seats “There are rest stops, and the journey time may be shorter because there are already toll roads along the way,” Ari said.
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