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Jakarta offers women free public transit on Kartini Day
In addition to the special program targeting female passengers on Kartini Day, the city administration is offering a free fare program for all passengers on April 24 to celebrate National Public Transportation Day.
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A woman and a man board a Transjakarta electric bus on Sept. 9, 2024, at the Bundaran Senayan bus stop in South Jakarta. (Antara/Sulthony Hasanuddin)
T
he Jakarta administration is waiving public transportation fares for female passengers who take city-owned bus and train services on April 21 to celebrate Kartini Day, an annual holiday that commemorates the birth of national heroine Raden Ajeng Kartini.
The move comes just a few days after UNESCO inscribed a vast collection of her handwritten letters in its Memory of the World Register last Thursday as a joint submission from Indonesia and the Netherlands.
Born in 1879 to a Javanese noble family, R.A. Kartini is hailed as a symbol of women’s empowerment for her work to promote gender equity and women’s rights during the Dutch colonial era.
The Kartini Day free fare program applies to all female passengers of the Transjakarta bus rapid transit (BRT) and Mikrotrans minivan services, as well as the Jakarta MRT and Jakarta LRT rail services.
“Except for taxis, because they are private services,” Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung said on Thursday, as quoted by city-run news portal Beritajakarta.id.
According to Jakarta gubernatorial special staffer Cyril Raoul Hakim, the free public transit program is the city’s gift to all women and girls who reside in the capital.
A special lane for female passengers would be provided on Monday at each train station and bus shelter by the city’s transportation authority, Kompas.com reported.
Passengers who board public transport from these special lanes will not be deducted any fares from their cash cards.
Based on the Jakarta administration’s data for March, the free fare program on Kartini Day is expected to help more than 1.2 million commuters who use the city’s public transit system.
The city is offering a similar free fare program that applies to all passengers on April 24 to commemorate National Public Transportation Day.
