TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
More than half-million travelers use free transportation
More than half a million travelers used the free mudik (exodus) transportation provided by state-owned enterprises and central and local governments during the recent annual Idul Fitri holidays
Change Size
M
span>More than half a million travelers used the free mudik (exodus) transportation provided by state-owned enterprises and central and local governments during the recent annual Idul Fitri holidays.
Overall, a total of 511,413 people used the free transportation sponsored by the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Ministry, other branches of the central government and the regional governments, was. That represented a 68.54 percent increase from last year’s figure, according to data provided by the government’s Idul Fitri Traffic Control Command Center
The ministry launched earlier last month a “Go Home with SOEs” program, whereby enterprises pooled at least Rp 100 million (US$6,978) to move 250,000 travelers nationwide for free.
The Transportation Ministry officially closed its Idul Fitri Traffic Control Command Center in Jakarta on June 14, ending a two-week operation to ensure a smooth traffic flow during Indonesia’s largest annual exodus.
Throughout the operation, the command center recorded a 75 percent decline in traffic accidents and a 74 percent decline in related deaths. Accidents went down from 2,234 cases last year to 563 this year, while the number of deaths decreased from 528 to 137 in the same period.
“The Transportation Ministry takes our analysis for safety and environment seriously. Alhamdulillah [thank God], there was a significant decline in accident rates of more than 70 percent,” said Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi during the center’s closing ceremony.
The command center said in a report received by The Jakarta Post that a 12.75 percent decline in people using motorcycles for mudik during this holiday “had a positive impact on the drop in traffic accident rates”.
Budi added that government efforts to push public transportation usage, whether buses, trains, ferries, ships or airplanes, also contributed to the lower accident rates.
The ministry’s reported decline in accidents and deaths was slightly higher than the National Police’s records showing a decline of 62 and 59 percent respectively.
Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo recently told media that law enforcers recorded 446 traffic accidents and 105 deaths from May 29 to June 7, which marked the 10-day Operation Ketupat road security initiative.
However, the ministry’s Research and Development Department says overall public transportation users actually decreased by 2.42 percent to 18.35 million this year compared to last year.
This year’s public transportation users were composed of those who travelled by land (9.25 million), sea (5.58 million) and air (3.52 million). Use of the former two modes increased by 8.5 and 2.5 percent, respectively, but overall public transportation use was offset by a sharp decline in air travel.
“From seven days prior to seven days after Idul Fitri, passengers from all transportation modes increased, except for air transportation, which experienced a 27.37 percent decrease,” said department head Sugihardjo.
The decrease in air travel corresponds with a nationwide raising of air fares that began earlier this year. Public outrage over the prices of domestic flight, which often exceeded those of international flights, prompted the Transportation Ministry to impose a price ceiling in March.
Desi Arryani, president director of state toll road operator Jasa Marga, told reporters that the company also noticed a decline in traffic accidents “of more than 50 percent”.
“This year was better than last year. The spike of traveler volumes began long before [Idul Fitri]. Peak return flow through the Jakarta-Cikampek highway on Sunday [on the last weekend of the holiday period] reached a historic record high of 166,000 vehicles,” she said.
Desi added that a joint decision by traffic authorities to implement measures by which the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road was turned into a one-way highway during the peak outward and inward days, helped ease congestion, despite media having reported severe congestion on the inward days.
“The congestion was due to queues at exit toll gates. The Jakarta-Cikampek toll road cannot hold 166,000 vehicles. It’s incapable. So the queues extended everywhere,” she said.
