No Chairs, The Parapet in Commuter Line Stations

This view, soon, will become common in many train stations in Indonesia, especially commuter train stations among Jakarta, Bekasi, Depok, Tangerang.

The operator of commuter train decided to pull out most of chairs in their stations, usually formed by several iron rods. As replacement they provide what is called as a place to lean, similar to bridge parapet. It is formed by 3 long rod of steels in triangle shape at the hip level.

With this parapet, passengers waiting for their trains can lean back to take a rest but they can not sit.

The idea is adopted from common facility provided in Japan commuter train stations. The basic thought behind this change is because usually passengers waiting for commuter train service won't wait too long since the arrival and departure of trains are only within few minutes interval.

There is no need to provide them with chairs. Passengers are expected not to spend too much time in train stations.

It is quite thoughtful consideration and theoretically, they are correct. Nobody wants to spend too much time in a station, everybody wants to reach their destination as fst as possible. Very true.

It is also understood clearly if Japan train stations do not provide chairs for passengers to rest because trains come and go every 5 minutes. There is so short waiting time and very reliable. Theory is not different from reality.

But...

Indonesia commuter train service, called Commuter Line, has not reached the same level as Japan commuter train services. It often, no sorry, always late. Many times the lateness exceed more than one hour. The interval between one train schedule with another is not too short, 10-15 minutes.

Eliminating chairs mean that passengers are asked to stand more for quite long before their train arrive.

If you are healthy persons, you are lucky but women in pregnancy, handicapped persons, passengers with children, and also elderly passengers may suffer due to this new policy.

Fortunately, at least someone in the operator office still have humanity feeling . Several priority seats are kept for those four categories of people. Unfortunately, as widely known, Indonesians are not yet disciplined as shown by the facts that priority seats are often occupied by them who are not listed in the 4 categories of persons.

Lucky, I am a healthy man that seldom needs either the parapet or chairs.