For today's trip to bogor, I decided to try the train, the much vaunted, much spoken, and apparently mysterious and unyielding train service in Jakarta.

Many stories have been told about it. It's time to try it out for myself. Whilst this isn't the first time I am taking the train, it's the first time I am taking a inter-city train.


7.45am train ride early in the morning from stasiun Gambir.


The experience from Stasiun Gambir itself was interesting to begin with. For a major intra/inter-city train station (3rd in size after Stasiun Kota and Stasiun Senen) it has two different ticket sales areas, none of which are clearly marked. The station is reminiscent of the 1970’s was static plastic display boards depicting train times, and the two areas poorly demarcated.

After staring at the boards for some time and then eventually inquiring at the ticketing counter, only to be told that there was another completely different ticket sales area that would sell the ticket of the train to Bogor.

Now that is really inefficient, a SINGLE ticketing booth to sell a SINGLE type of train ticket? And different counters at different locations? All the tickets are still paper-issued tickets torn out from a ticket-booklet and sold through a counter via a counter staff, the tickets are also manually punched by a conductor.

There are no automated machines that dispense tickets; the gates are manned manually by a conductor as the automated gates are out of order. The whole system (if it’s any system at all) is obsolete and not optimized for mass transport or any sort of handling of masses. Tickets have to be bought manually through a single counter, which results in queuing, as well as entry onto the platform itself.





The bottlenecks are everywhere, the platform itself is filthy and rubbish can be seen on the tracks. A family on the platform facilitated their toddler child to pee onto the tracks, now that was just distasteful and uncivilized.





When the train arrived, there were no announcements or indication or signs of any kind of just what kind of train it was (since many trains ply the platform, you need to know what train you are getting on). I only knew when the conductor got off the train and was yelling it’s destination before getting on again.




For a train that plies this platform six times a day, you could very well miss it in a moment of distraction. The train ride to Bogor was smooth and uneventful, and for an Eksekutif (Executive) coach, (I insisted on buying the Eksekutif ticket, and not the “economy” one), it was clean, well-lit, smoke-free, air-conditioned and somewhat comfortable.











Arrival at Bogor station would bring you to another scene reminiscent of World-War Two organization. Chaotic, sporadic, random, and absolutely disorganized. You will see people getting on and off trains on platforms not designed for the height of the trains, sometimes necessitating a short jump onto the platform.






As the trains are poorly ordered with no proper access, you will see people getting on trains just to get to the other side of the platform to board another train, no bridges or alternative platform access. Clambering on and off a train to get to the opposite side is a norm over here.


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The layout of the station is disarrayed, management of crowds is disorderly, there are no signs to absolutely anywhere. You will see groups of people sitting randomly around the station, on the tracks, on idle trains, on absolutely anywhere, doing absolutely everything, eating, lying down, sleeping, stoning, peddling, begging, playing of instruments and such.





Exiting the station, you will be greeted with an armada of green Angkots swarming around honking and ready to whisk you off to whatever destination you might desire. That started the entire day of commuting in one Angkot after another.





Whole day was mainly spent in Angkots traveling, there wasn’t much of a scenic view to speak about either. Mainly vegetation or rural plantations on both sides of the road.



From my kosan to Senen (03) > transjakarta to Stasiun Gambir > Kereta Api to Bogor stasiun > Stasiun Bogor (03) > Opposite Bogor Terminal Beranang Siang > then an Angkot (bogor-sukabumi), that went past past cidabak and into Sukabumi > realized it was too far.



I even place-marked the area “Where the hell am I” and google maps told me: Jalan Tenjoayu, Cicurug.



So in my stuttering bahasa, hopped off and hopped onto a purple Angkot No.79, then changed to another Pale green angkot which brought me to a junction in Sukabumi and the driver told me to hop onto a while Angkot with a slogan (Complain) on it, (interesting choice for a vehicle name if you ask me) that will take me to Cidahu, where ideally it would take me to a verifiable destination, the Queens crater resort.

I never reached that place, at 2pm it was the point of no return and I headed the long journey back to Beranang Siang.

Another redeeming fact was the very cool weather, which gave a pleasant cool sensation of natural air-conditioning at 24degrees. Not too cold, but pleasantly refreshing. I also familiarized myself with the major bus terminal, Bogor terminal beranang siang, took a few pictures outside Bogor Istana Presiden and also got pictures of a waypoint Jakarta Cibubur Square on the way back to Jakarta.


Free deers roaming about within the presidential compound












Bus back to Jakarta






From Beranang Siang, you can see the picturesque view of Mount Salak