Still 1.5 Million Long-Distance Eid Train Seats Available

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Tickets for PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero) during the 2025 Eid homecoming and return period have only been sold at 42.7 percent. The period in question is from March 21 to April 11, 2025. Specifically for long-distance trains, 1.5 million seats are still available.

"Sales of local train tickets are still relatively low because tickets can only be booked starting 30 days before departure, and most are only available starting 7 days prior," said Vice President Public Relations KAI, Anne Purba, in her written statement in Jakarta, Friday (14/3/2025).

PT Kereta Api Indonesia (Persero) or KAI sold 4.6 million tickets during the period of March 21 - April 11, 2025. This includes 3.44 million long-distance tickets and 1.15 million local tickets.

As of Friday (14/3/2025) at 07:00 WIB, train tickets for long-distance and local routes have only been sold at 42.7 percent. Long-distance train tickets have sold 1.9 million tickets, or 55.7 percent. This means that approximately 1.5 million seats are still available.

Meanwhile, local train tickets have only sold 42,806 tickets or 3.7 percent. Some tickets have not been able to be booked.

Similar to previous years, according to Anne, the booking patterns for Eid 2025 remain relatively consistent. The favorite routes are still dominated by trips to and from major cities. Some of these include Gambir-Yogyakarta (round trip), Gambir-Semarang Tawang (round trip), and Pasar Senen-Surabaya Pasar Turi (round trip).

Anne urged the public who have not obtained tickets as expected to consider alternative options. This can be done by choosing different departure dates or utilizing travel schedules outside of peak times to increase the chances of securing tickets.

In order for people to get tickets at more affordable prices, KAI is holding a special promotion program called "Ramadan Festive". This program offers two types of promotions for customers, namely regular promotions with discounts of up to 20 percent and flash sales with claims of very low ticket prices.

"We understand that the public's focus is more on the journey from Jakarta to the eastern part of (Java). Therefore, through the 'Ramadan Festive,' we are offering attractive promotions for customers who wish to return to Jakarta at more economical prices," said Anne.

In regular promotions, the public can pocket tickets with discounts of up to 20 percent from the normal rate for ticket reservations on March 18-19, 2025. This offer is valid for departures from March 21, 2025 to April 11, 2025, with a total of 38,000 seats or according to the number of seats available.

In addition to regular offers, customers can get affordable ticket prices through flash sales. This offer can only be accessed through the Access by KAI application for 2,000 tickets.

Flash sale takes place on March 18, 2025 at 12.00-13.00 WIB. Tickets in this program are valid for departures from March 21, 2025 to April 11, 2025.

There are three special prices offered in the flash sale program based on train class. The executive class fare is priced at IDR 300,000. Business class is worth IDR 200,000 and economy class is worth IDR 100,000.

The government estimates that the peak of homecoming trips will occur on D-3 of Eid or Friday (28/3/2025).

The government estimates that the peak of homecoming travel will occur on D-3 of Eid or Friday (3/28/2025). Around 16.9 million people will travel.

Of the various modes of transportation in the survey results of the Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub), trains are in fourth place that are relied on by the public by transporting 2.7 million passengers. While in 1-3rd place are private cars, planes, and buses.

"In terms of station infrastructure, Pasar Senen (Jakarta) is the origin station with the largest predicted number of passengers of 4.08 million passengers. Meanwhile, the destination station with the largest predicted number of passengers is Yogyakarta Tugu with 2.02 million passengers," said Minister of Transportation Dudy Purwagandhi.

In Lebaran 2025, KAI seeks to improve the quality of its services. The State-Owned Enterprise will gradually bring in 612 units of stainless steel trains called Stainless Steel New Generation, including economy class.

KAI also modified the existing train sets. Through Balai Yasa Manggarai, KAI targets the modification of 52 new generation trains and four compartment trains in 2025. This effort is made so that economy trains can remain competitive in terms of comfort and facilities.

"Economy trains are available with affordable fares for the public," said Anne.

In West Sumatra, for example, the Pariaman Express train with the Pauh Lima (Padang) to Naras (Pariaman) round trip route in West Sumatra is charged a fare of IDR 5,000. There is also the Minangkabau Express train with the Pulau Aie (Padang) to Minangkabau International Airport (Padang Pariaman) round trip route at a fare of IDR 10,000. Lower prices are still available for the Lembah Anai (Padang Pariaman) to Duku (Palembang) train at IDR 3,000.

Other trains are also available in South Sumatra. Two of them are the Kuala Stabas train from Baturaja (Ogan Komering Ulu) to Tanjungkarang (Bandar Lampung) PP with a fare of Rp 10,000 to Rp 30,000. In addition, the Rajabasa train serves the Kertapati (Palembang) to Tanjungkarang (Bandar Lampung) PP route with the longest route in Sumatra reaching 388 kilometers with a fare of Rp 29,000-Rp 32,000.