Helping City Transportation Drivers and Passengers, Bobby Nasution Spends IDR 30 Billion Budget

Medan Mayor Bobby Nasution/DOK Instagram bobbynst

MEDAN - Medan Mayor Bobby Nasution poured IDR 30 billion into subsidies for public transport drivers. The drivers of public transportation in the city of Medan will receive direct cash assistance (BLT) in early October.

This policy was implemented by Bobby Nasution to ease the burden on public transport drivers from the impact of rising fuel prices. This subsidy program is named Sibonas.

Head of the Medan City Transportation Service, Iswar Lubis explained, this BLT will be given to motorized rickshaw (betor) drivers, online motorcycle taxis (Ojol), and city transportation (Angkot).

"This subsidy distribution program is called Sibonas (Betor, Ojol, and Angkot (sudako) subsidies. This subsidy is a form of attention from the Medan City Government to people affected by the increase in fuel prices, especially those who are active in the transportation sector", said Iswar, Tuesday, September 27.

Iswar explained this program is specifically for public transport drivers who live in the city of Medan. In principle, the Pemko Medan, said Iswar, does not care about drivers whose domicile is outside the city of Medan.

"It's just because this is a program for the Mayor of Medan, so it's only for residents of Medan City", said Iswar.

He explained that currently there are 17,200 data on beneficiaries who are still in the verification stage in the sub-districts. After the verification stage is complete, the BLT will be disbursed.

Not only drivers, but passengers will also get assistance from the Medan City Government starting October 1, 2022. Passengers only pay the Angkot fare with the old fare.

"People can download the Sibonas application via Android, then register. After that, people can ride public transportation that already has a barcode and shows the barcode from the Sibonas application. That way, people only need to pay the old tariff of IDR 5,000 per relay", he explained.

The plan is that Bobby Nasution will attach barcodes to around 800 fleets on Friday, September 30 around the Merdeka field area.

"Later on, the public will be able to see, if the Angkot has been affixed with a barcode, it means that the Angkot has received a subsidy from the Medan City Government of IDR 1500. So, later the government will directly distribute the subsidy through their respective Angkot companies", he said.