Kemenkominfo Urges The Public To Go Home Using General Transportation

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Communication and Information (Kemenkominfo) appealed to the public to go home for Eid using various modes of public transportation and to avoid the use of motorbikes or two-wheeled vehicles that are dangerous for long-distance travel.

"It's better if we go home by public transportation. Many Ministries and Institutions or Local Governments are holding free homecomings and the government has increased or added rail travel," said Director General of Information and Public Communication at the Ministry of Communication and Information Usman Kansong in a written statement, quoted from Antara, Saturday, March 16.

Ahead of the Eid al-Fitr 1445 Hijri or Lebaran 2024 holiday season, various preparations have been made in terms of security, health, cleanliness, and comfort. Usman appealed to the public to pay attention to all preparations and calculations of the homecoming date to prevent the accumulation of movement of people or vehicles.

In addition, Usman also invited the public to access information about homecoming trips through Mudikpedia which is being prepared by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics.

"We will publish what is called Homecoming, containing all information about going home, including we can click on toll road CCTV to tourist location maps that are usually traversed by travelers," he said.

Usman said that West Java Province is one of people's favorite tourist destinations during the Eid holiday. In 2023, more than half a million tourists visited a number of West Java tourist attractions.

On the same occasion, the Head of Road Traffic Division of the West Java Transportation Service, Agus Pribadi, said that this year's traffic preparation focuses on controlling the movement of community mobility during homecoming.

Based on the evaluation of homecoming in 2023, the volume of vehicles using the Pantura (non-toll) route is 66 percent higher or around 2.4 million vehicles compared to those using the Cipali Toll Road, which is 1.2 million. This is because many motorcycle modes are used to reach 86 percent.

Controlling the movement of community mobility, Agus explained, will be supported by 127 traffic polling posts and 12 traffic counting points for Eid transportation such as motorbikes, light cars, and large vehicles.

"Tourism route handling on D+1 Lebaran is also needed in a number of places, such as Puncak, Lembang, Pangandaran, as well as Pelabuhan Ratu," said Agus.

Regarding the readiness of traffic flow ahead of the Lebaran holiday, Kasubdit Kamsel Ditlantas Polda West Java AKBP Eti Haryati explained that the West Java jurisdiction is an area of the homecoming track and tourist route so that it has its own challenges. The Ketupat-Lodaya 2024 operation was carried out to oversee the smooth homecoming and involved around 2,765 personnel in West Java.

Through the presentation delivered by AKBP Eti, it was explained how to act in accordance with the conditions of the homecoming flow.

If the traffic flow situation on the Jakarta-Cikampek (Japek) Toll Road is normal, the Japek Toll Road and Cipali Toll Road will run normally in two directions. If it is congested, a one-way contra flow will be carried out starting from the breakdown of the Kilometer (KM) 47 Japek Toll Road to KM 96 Cipali Toll Road.

"For contingency conditions, two lanes of contra flow will be carried out on the Japek Toll Road starting from KM 47 to KM 70, then followed by one way from KM 70 to KM 188 the Palimanan Toll Gate," said Eti.

Head of the West Java Provincial Tourism and Culture Office, Benny Bachtiar, conveyed the importance of capturing tourism opportunities from over-tourism areas. He said culinary events, music, and exhibitions were the most attractive events for foreign tourists and became a strong impetus and could be developed in West Java.

"Today Bali has over-tourism, our chances of capturing it. Let's create a good tourism village together and can also expand and open new tourism potential along the homecoming route in West Java," said Benny.