News focus: will Idul Fitri travelers get better services this year?

Jakarta, NU Online
The safety of Idulfitri holiday makers on their home-bound trips in all parts of the country later this month was the focus of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono`s attention at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.

The president when speaking at the cabinet meeting at his office asked state transportation agencies to give the best possible service to Idulfitri holiday travelers.<>

The head of state said the state transportation agencies should learn from past problems and enable Idul Fitri holiday-makers to travel to their home towns or villages in the most comfortable conditions possible.

"What we are going to do for Idul Fitri preparations this year should not be a routine activity but a special operation that has to be successful," he said.

Yudhoyono also reminded the ministers that the environment continued to change and therefore the management of home-bound travelers, returning holiday makers, and everything related to the peak of the Muslim holiday period in the coming weeks should be adjusted with the real conditions.

"Our target is to make the Idul Fitri festivities this year better than than those in previous years," the president said at the meeting to discuss various issues related to the latest domestic situation including preparations for the Idul Fitri cerebration.

"Therefore, let us do our best to enable the people make their holiday journeys in the most pleasant conditions possible," the president said.Meanwhile, on Friday (Sept 4) minister of Transportation Jusman Syafii Djamal predicted that 16.248 million people will travel to home cities or villages for the post-fasting holiday of Idul Fitri or Lebaran this month.

These home-bound travelers are the ones who will use public transport, counted based upon sold transport tickets, the minister said.

Travelers who would use land transport means reached 6.59 million, which was the biggest number compared to users of other means, Djamal said, adding that the number to use ferries reached 3.65 million, trains 3.23 million and planes 1.63 million.

The minister emphasized the importance of paying attention to travelers who would use motorbikes or cars. He said the number of people who would use motorbikes to travel home would reach 2.66 million and cars 1.41 million.

"Home-bound travelers by motorbikes and cars are what will make security measures different from last year," he said.

He said car and motor-bike users would contribute much to orderliness in the streets and therefore measures to be taken in the field for them would be different.

The minister said he was optimistic all roads would be ready to accommodate the travelers ten days before Lebaran that will fall on September 21.

In the meantime, state-owned railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (PT KAI) estimated that up to 840,000 people from Jakarta and environs are to make home-bound train trips to destinations on Java island during this year`s Idul Fitri holiday season.

"The number of motor vehicles on the road during Idul Fitri festivities will increase from that of past years and the transportation problems will be more complicated," PT KAI Area I spokesman Sugeng Priono said in Jakarta on Monday (Aug.24) .

The figure would represent an increase of 9.0 percent compared to last year`s number, Sugeng Priono said.

Some 450,000 of the train travelers this year would be economy-class passengers while their number in 2008 was 408,000.

Meanwhile, the number of travelers using executive and business class was predicted to rise slightly, namely by one percent, Sugeng Priono stated.

"The increase in the number of Idul Fitri train travelers this year is due to several factors, namely the increased number of Jakarta residents and also the unfriendly road conditions for travel by motorcycle," he said.

Sugeng said the fact that the economy-class ticket price had remained the same as a year ago was also among the reasons travelers would prefer to travel by train, although the ticket price for executive class had risen by 10 percent and that for business class by eight percent.

Yogyakarta and Solo, according to Sugeng, would still be the main destinations for home-bound people from the Jakarta-Bogor-Depok-Tangerang-Bekasi (Jabodetabek) region.

"To meet the high demand for seats to Yogyakarta and Solo, we will add two more trains to serve the routes to both cities," he said adding that trains to Purwokerto, Semarang, Surabaya and Malang would also be among the most densely crowded ones and therefore PT KAI would put one extra train in service on the routes to those towns.

Sugeng predicted the number of home bound Idul Fitri travelers at Gambir and Senen railway stations would peak on Friday (Sept 18) or three days before Idul Fitri.

In addition, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday (Sept.9) called for a drastic reduction in train accidents in the country over the next five years.

He made the call when officiating the opening of a double railway track and the operation of 75 new carriages at Jakarta Kota railway station.

He said in the next five years operations of trains as a mass transport means must lead to a zero accident.

"This is a target, a working contract. It is how we have to drastically reduce train accidents," he said.

The head of state believed in the next five years operations of trains could record zero accidents if all crossings were repaired.

"I know road development due to expansion of residential areas done by central or local administrations sometimes was not synchronous with railway crossings," he said.

The president said the situation was the root cause of many train accidents so far because many crossings did not have gates or guards.

He said the problem had to be settled in stages with targets. "If targets are set with regard to the number of crossings each district must build the problem could certainly be settled. It does not make sense if such an accident continues to happen. It is impossible that it has no solution," he said.

On the occasion the President also underlined the importance of integrating the transportation system with the country`s geographic conditions to promote national economy.

He also stressed the importance of promoting the effectiveness of railway transportation system to reduce traffic congestion particularly to serve commuters between cities or districts around big cities.

In view of that he said he had asked railway company PT Kereta Api and train maker PT INKA to keep improving their competitive power and develop cooperation with private sectors for the development of railway infrastructure.

"I want to see the railway service sub-sector being prioritized for development in the years to come. I wish railway service industry could be further developed seriously so that it could become more competitive," he was quoted by Antara news agency as saying.

Yudhoyono said although initially it would take a big investment eventually its benefit in reducing traffic congestion and smoothing human as well as goods flows would be seen in ten years` time.

The president had also called for continued development of railway double-tracks without hurting the public with regard to land acquisition.

In addition data obtained from PT KAI Daop VII in Madiun showed that out of some 268 rail way crossings in East Java among other things in Madiun, Ngawi, Magetan, Nganjuk and Tulungagung only 64 which have been equipped with the crossing bars. (dar)