Airfare Hike; Land Transport Homecoming Travelers to Increase
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18 May 2019 16:32 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Director-general of land transportation at the Transportation Ministry Budi Setiyadi predicted passengers of land transportation in the 2019 Eid homecoming season would increase due to the airfare hike.
"I received a report that there is a decrease in airplane passengers in Solo and Semarang. The people in Solo and Semarang prefer to ride their cars or go on the bus, rather than boarding on the airplane," he said in Cikini, Central Jakarta, Friday, May 17.
Following the report, Budi claimed bus passengers in Java Island would increase 30 percent compared to regular days. It is also supported by the data of the increase of bus passengers surge reported by land transportation operators to the ministry.
Based on the collected data, Budi Setiyadi said there is a surge of passengers by 12-25 percent on regular days after the increase of the airplanes tariff, which occurred along the end of 2018 until April 2019.
Association of Entrepreneurs Otobus Young Indonesia (IPOMI) chairman Kurnia Lesani Adnan said that the increase was not only triggered by the airfare hike but also by the operation of Trans Java Toll.
"The existence of Transjava Toll creates easier access for the passengers," Adnan told Tempo Saturday, May 18. The increase of passenger also occurs in Central Java and East Java routes.
He added that bus tickets from Jakarta Greater Area (Jabodetabek) heading to the two regions on D-7 and D+7 of Eid are all sold out. The tickets are priced at Rp450,000 for Jabodetabek-Central Java route, and Rp600,000 for Jabodetabek-East Java route.
Transportation Ministry's research and development body predicted that 40 percent of the total 14.9 million homecoming travelers from Jabodetabek, will go through the Trans Java toll, 27 percent of them will go through the north coast lane (pantura), while 33 percent will pass the alternative routes.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data recorded that air transportation passengers from January to March 2019 were only 18 million, while it recorded 22 million domestic passengers in the same period last year.
Francisca Christy Rosana
