The Riau Islands Transportation Agency Implements Online Roro Ship Queues In The Christmas-New Year Homecoming Season

Head of the Riau Islands Province Transportation Service (Kepri), Junaidi. (DOC ANTARA)

RIAU - Head of the Riau Islands Province Transportation Service (Dishub Kepri), Junaidi said, would re-implement the online queue system for passengers of interprovincial trajectories during the Christmas and New Year homecoming seasons. "The system is the same as the one applied to Eid Al-Fitr 2023 homecoming, and it has proven to be very effective in preventing the accumulation of vehicles at ASDP ports," Junaidi said in Tanjungpinang, Antara, Wednesday, November 29. Through this system, residents who will go for Christmas and New Year's homecoming, can register themselves and vehicles first online. New registration will be opened ASDP Batam starting December 1, 2023. The policy can also minimize the accumulation of queues at ASDP ports, where passengers or vehicles to depart are in accordance with the ship's capacity and schedules ordered through online registration. In addition, he continued, ticket prices ordered online are clearer and more transparent. "The online queue system has been evaluated during Eid al-Fitr yesterday. The results are quite effective and fully supported by the community using roro ship transportation," said Junaidi. Meanwhile, regarding the readiness of the cross-provincial ship fleet in welcoming the Christmas and New Year homecoming. Junaidi ensured that the current fleet was sufficient to transport the passengers. He explained that the Riau Islands had just arrived at the DLN Nusantara roro ship which sailed the Jakarta-Batam-Medan route. "The ship's existence supports the two village ships owned by PT Pelni to serve Christmas and New Year's homecoming aris," he said. He also added that the Riau Islands Transportation Agency together with all related parties had scheduled a preparation meeting for Christmas 2023 and New Year 2024, Thursday (30/11) in Batam. One of these meetings was aimed at anticipating a surge in Christmas and New Year's passengers, which nationally is predicted to reach 107 million people, an increase of six percent compared to last year.

"In Riau Islands, it seems that passengers are not as busy as during Eid al-Fitr. It's just that we still need to anticipate, because the Christmas and New Year's moments coincide with school children's holidays," he also said.