[Transportation: Commuter train]
One of the most important question for you to answer is how you get around anywhere in your place of destination. With zoos and other facilities in Java, getting from one place to another might either be tricky or costly. While going from one town to another might require train ride, private driver, bus, or even just flew via airplane, some cities and their nearby towns have multiple zoos and wouldn't require much effort in finding transportation. Larger cities, like Jakarta and Yogyakarta, have
commuter line service. Hopefully this would be a cheaper alternative for you all.
We're going to talk about navigating the
commuter network in Jakarta and
Yogyakarta/
Surakarta. Additionaly, worth noting that I will talk only about what commuter line you should stop at on nearby facilities and where do you go there from, as well as approximate price. I will try answering further questions.
P.s a lot of these stations doesn't directly connected or even located across to the facilities you seek. From these stations, I'd recommend immediately order a taxi or other services.
There are commuter service for
Bandung (Also serve trip to Garut and Purwakarta) and
Surabaya (Also serve trip to Lamongan, Pasuruan, and Malang). But, it's been years since I last went to Bandung and I have yet to set foot on Surabaya. I wouldn't include them here, but I'll try to do further research if asked.
Jakarta and nearby towns

Within the main city of Jakarta, going to the
Manggarai station (Which are the central hub judging by the above map) might help in navigating elsewhere. But, you had to transit from other stations to go to other specific places. My list of the nearest stations to each facilities are;
- Ancol Dreamland (Faunaland, Jakarta Birdland, SeaWorld Ancol, and Samudra Ancol): From Manggarai, enter the Jakarta Kota-Bogor route. Which on certain schedule, the train would go up to Jakarta Kota from Bogor or Manggarai themself. From Jakarta Kota, go on transit to the Jakarta Kota-Tanjung Priok route. You will depart on the third station, Ancol, and order a taxi from there.
- Habitat Park: The park is located in a very urbanized part of Jakarta, so public transportation are relatively easy and connected. There are not station directly close to the park, however, but I recommend stopping at Sudirman from Manggarai, en route to Tanah Abang.
- BXSea and Aviary Park - Interestingly, the station Jurang Mangu directly connected to BXChange, where the BXSea is located. If you're from Manggarai, you'd like to transit to Tanah Abang, which went on a single route to the Merak port. From Jurang Mangu, you can directly enter the mall to go to the aquarium, or order a taxi to go the Aviary Park.
- Jasmine Park: From Jurang Mangu, after three stops, you should stop at the Cisauk station and order a taxi from there.
- Jakarta Aquarium & Safari: The nearest station is the Grogol station. From Manggarai, you should go on the route to Tanah Abang, and just wait until the train depart to Grogol and order a taxi from there.
- Taman Mini Indonesia Indah: From Manggarai, enter the train en route to Citayam, you should stop at the Tanjung Barat station.
- Ragunan Zoo: From Manggarai, go to the train en route to Citayam and drop at the Pasar Minggu station.
- Animalium BRIN: The farthest facility you'd reach via Jakarta's commuter line. From Manggarai, go to the train en route to Citayam. From there, wait a while until the train eventually end in Cibinong.
Yogyakarta and Surakarta

The commuter from Yogyakarta to Surakarta and vice-versa are a simple back-and-forth network. If you're from either of the two cities, my recommended stopping point are at;
- Yogyakarta/Tugu: Located on the popular site, Malioboro, it's one of the two main station of Yogyakarta. From there, you can order any transportation service to Gembira Loka Zoo. I wouldn't recommend immediately going to places like Suraloka Interactive Zoo from the station, as these are generally located very far from the main city.
- Solo Balapan: Located in the main city of Surakarta, from there, you can order a taxi or other services to Solo Safari for a relatively short distance.
How to access commuter service
Prices tend to change depending on distances, but are generally very cheap for most travellers. Ranging from Rp. 3,000 ($0.18 cent) for the first 25 Km, where the price will increase by Rp. 1,000 on every next 10 Km. For example, the ticket price from
Yogyakarta to
Solo Balapan are Rp. 8,000 ($0.48 cent).
Go to
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...CBwQAQ&sqi=2&usg=AOvVaw222_QcWwXUrf6XfLz-8BXt for better price estimate.
On how to get the ticket and such, the option are;
- Directly order the ticket from the commuter service ticket at the station.
- Get an KMT (Kartu multi-trip or multi-trip card) or any locally-available e-money cards. You can get this card from the station service, or buy them from retail stores (Recommend stores are Indomaret or Alfamart).