REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The government should handle seriously home-bound post-fasting Eid el-Fitr, or Lebaran travelers using motorcycles, an observer said.
"The number of home-bound travelers using motorcycles during the Lebaran season this year is predicted to be still high. Therefore, the government still needs to maintain its free travel service program using other modes of transportation for motorists," transportation observer Djoko Setijawarno said here on Sunday.
Djoko said in written statement that the government has prepared free-drive services using other transportation modes such as trucks, trains and ships for motorcyclists.
"But this year, the government has scrapped its free-ride services for sea transportation. Thus, the capacity of free service using trains is increased three-golds by about 15,000," he said.
The government had better maintain its free travel services using ships for motorists traveling by sea.
He said it would be better for the government to set a budget and to offer free ship services than to offer free toll road tariffs for Lebaran travelers.
"At least for a long-distance voyage to avoid traveling on high ways. It will reduce the task of traffic police to watch them on the road," he said.
A survey by the transportation ministry showed that Lebaran revelers opted to motorcycles because it would be faster (31.8 percent respondents), low cost (22.2 percent), efficient (13.5 percent) and relax (8.6 percent).
They chose to use motorcycles because it would cost only about Pp500,000 and would help their mobility in hometowns.
Directorate General of Land Transportation Pudji Hartanto Iskandar said during the 2016 Lebaran transportation season, his office will provide free travel services to motorcyclists. This will cover a total of 12,000 motorcycles and 24,000 passengers.
For such free-ride services, the directorate general of land transportation has set aside a budget worth Rp20 billion.
The quota comprises 8,400 motorcycles with 16,000 passengers for home-bound journey and 3,600 motorcycles with 7,200 passengers during the return journey.
The motorists' quota for free-ride service was increased by 275 percent this year, compared to that in 2015 when only 3,200 motorcycles were allowed a free-ride facility.
The free-ride program for motorcyclists this year will serve routes to nine cities in Java, namely Tegal, Kebumen, Purwokerto, Yogyakarta, Solo, Wonogiri, Wonosobo, Magelang and Semarang. The routes for the return flow will take cyclists to three cities of Yogyakarta, Solo and Semarang.
For those headed home, trucks carrying the motorcycles will depart first on July 1, 2016 while buses carrying the motorcycles' passengers will depart the following day, July 2, 2016. Vehicles carrying motorcycles will depart from the office of state-owned logistics board, Bulog, in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, while buses carrying passengers will depart from 'Indonesia in Miniature Park' (TMII) in East Jakarta.
"For the return journey, motorcycles will leave their destination towns on July 16, 2016 while passengers will leave on July 17, 2016," the director general said.
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