Collaboration And Synergy Are The Key To The Success Of Christmas And New Year's Transportation Services

President Director of PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry (Persero) Ira Puspadewi when giving his presentation. (Ist)

Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi asked all stakeholders in ferry transportation to prioritize collaboration and synergy in an effort to serve passengers on Christmas 2022 and New Year's 2023 transportation.

The request refers to the potential increase in the number of passengers and goods during the Christmas and New Year (Nataru) holidays, in line with the easing of mobility after the COVID-19 pandemic.

In realizing strong and safe crossings, collaboration between stakeholders is an important aspect, he said when he was a keynote speaker for the Synergy-themed Transportation Discussion Forum for the Country: Stakeholde Collaboration Supports the smooth passage of the 2023 Christmas and New Year Transportation Perideo which was held by Bisnis and PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry (Persero), at the Arya Duta Hotel Jakarta on Thursday 3 November.

The transportation discussion forum presented the Director of Lake and Crossing River Transportation of the Directorate General of Land Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation Junaidi, President Director of PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry (Persero) Ira Puspadewi, Director of Security and Safety (Dirkamsel) Korlantas Polri Prof Chryshnanda Dwilaksana, public policy observer Agus Pambagio YLKI Sudaryatmo, and academic of the Sumatra Institute of Technology (ITERA) Ilham Malik.

In addition, he was also present as the General Chairperson of the Indonesian Truck Entrepreneurs Association (Aptrindo) Gemilang Tarigan, the General Chairperson of INFA JA Barata, the General Chairperson of Gapasdap Khoiri Soetomo and the Head of the Advocacy Division of the Central Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) as well as the Soegijapranata Academia Semarang Djoko Setijowarno.

The Minister of Transportation explained that all stakeholders in crossing transportation need to build joint commitments, contributions and mutual support in efforts to realize safe, healthy and safe crossing transportation services. As an archipelagic country, he explained, Indonesia needs the support of transportation mobility, both sea transportation and reliable crossings during the Christmas and New Year 2023 period.

For this reason, the Ministry of Transportation has begun to prepare itself for the success of the annual store after having had 2 consecutive years of no homecoming activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the early stages, the Ministry of Transportation has carried out safety inspections or ramp checks on transportation facilities and infrastructure including on crossings. The Minister of Transportation also emphasized the readiness of transportation facilities and infrastructure to be seen again to ensure the feasibility and to anticipate the potential for a surge in passengers.

"The crossing port is one of the transportation nodes that will experience an increase in intensity in serving goods and passengers during Christmas and New Year," he said.

Based on the experience and moments of transportation for Lebaran 2022, the Minister of Transportation stated that the community was very enthusiastic about traveling on land in the hope of having a safe and comfortable and healthy travel experience. In addition, the community also hopes that the queue process at the ferry port can be smoother.

At the 2022 Eid Transport, ASDP Indonesia Ferry served around 4.93 million passengers and 1.18 million vehicles on 13 crossing routes. Various dynamics in the field occurred when the Lebaran homecoming flow occurred in the form of a relatively high queue density of vehicles heading to Merak Port, Banten.

"For that, I appeal to ASDP as the operator and all stakeholders providing ferry transportation to prepare themselves by increasing the quantity of the number of ships and service quality so that Nataru services run smoothly," said the Minister of Transportation.

In particular, the Minister of Transportation asked ferry SOEs to intensify the socialization of Ferizy electronic ticket services at the four main ports. The four ferry ports are Merak, Bakauheni, Ketapang and Gilimanuk. "So that socialization is more intensively carried out so that service users can prepare for a better journey and do not experience very long queues," said Minister of Transportation Budi Karya.

Meanwhile, President Director of PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry (Persero) Ira Puspadewi said that the implementation of Ferizy's electronic tickets has continued to improve since it was first implemented on May 1, 2020.

Special cashless payment services and electronic wallets are already present in 40 port units, consisting of 27 ASDP ports and 13 non-ASDPs. There are still five ports that will implement cashless (non-cash) around November 2022. The five are Pagimana Port, Hunimua, Waipirit, Galala, and Namlea.

Until now, ASDP has continuously made improvements to the e-ticketing of the Ferizy system according to consumer needs. This is done with the aim of ensuring service users get good services and experience in using the Ferizy application.

"Overall, PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry (Persero) is ready to carry out the 2022 & New Year 2023 Christmas Transportation Post with preparations ranging from safety, operational, service, and e-ticketing systems," said Ira.

Especially on the Merak-Bakuheni track, ASDP together with related stakeholders will increase coordination and synergy by carrying out strategies, including implementing a delaying system (screening) scheme in five Toll Road Rest Areas and three Restaurants in the arterial Line. In addition, optimizing the screening process, where service users who have not yet had tickets are screened and educated by Ferizy service officers at eight buffer zone points.

ASDP always encourages service users to make online ticket reservations long before traveling. This is to regulate the movement of vehicles entering the port every hour evenly and controlled according to the installed capacity (supply) and the available loading and ready-to-load zoning allocation.

Public Policy Observer Agus Pambagyo said there must be a clear division of tasks at the port. "This is a concern because there are many stakeholders, so it needs clarity on their roles and authorities starting from BPTD, Syahbandar, Regional Transportation Service, ASDP, and Port Health," he said.

In addition, operators must also massively educate service users, where crossing transportation services, especially digital ticket purchases. "Buying online ferry tickets is absolute. We know that when Angleb yesterday service users came when it was not yet time to cross. This must be regulated, the check-in process, so there are no more queues," he said.

On the other hand, Sumatra Institute of Technology (ITERA) academic Ilham Malik assessed that the delay system policy applied to rest areas on toll roads is quite effective in anticipating the density of Merak-Bakauheni crossing ports. "At Nataru later, the delay system needs to be applied not at ports but at rest areas," said Ilham.

To make Nataru 2023 a success, he also asked the commitment and consistent operator to operate the ship on schedule.

In addition, ensuring digitalization of ticketing runs smoothly, and people are educated and consistently provide excellent services, he said. Specifically for regulators, the Ministry of Transportation's Land Transportation Management Agency in Banten and Lampung also needs to ensure the ship's operating schedule and determine the ship's loading capacity.