Illegal vendors turn Jakarta to digital ticket sales

Jakarta will sell tickets online to prevent unregistered vendors from selling tickets at inflated prices. An e-ticketing system will be installed in the Pulogebang bus terminal, east of Jakarta.

“The terminal has to have an IT system to prevent people from carrying out arbitrage”, said Andri Yansyah, Head of Jakarta’s Department of Transportation.

Third party vendors usually purchase tickets from the physical counters, and sell them at a higher price to commuters.

Some of them bring customers to a ticketing counter, and expect to be given a commission; this forces counters to sell tickets at a higher price.

“We will design the service like those in airports or train stations”, he said.

Illegal vendors used to sell tickets in airports and train stations, but the government has solved this problem by setting up e-ticketing systems and increasing security patrol in the areas.

With the infrastructures set up, the local government hopes that bus operators will be able to sell their tickets online. The installation of IT infrastructure is scheduled to take three months.