(Ticket) purchase will not be made at the crossing port.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Transportation Ministry has prepared several measures to anticipate an increase in the number of passengers wanting to travel from Merak port, Banten Province, to Bakauheni port, Lampung Province, and back during the year-end holidays.

The anticipatory measures are based on an evaluation of people’s mobility during the 2022 Eid Al Fitr homecoming period, expert staff for logistics and multimodal affairs at the ministry, Robby Kurniawan, informed on Monday.

"During the previous homecoming period, (the crossing activities in) Merak-Bakauheni experienced an extraordinary increase, thus we really needed extra attempts to anticipate (the situation) by operating additional ships and ports, such as Ciwandan (port) and other existing ports,” he said.

Hence, through coordination with the National Police’s Traffic Corps, the Transportation Ministry will stop on-location sales of ferry tickets during the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays.

"All tickets must be sold digitally, hence the customers can place their orders (earlier). (Ticket) purchase will not be made at the crossing port," the expert staff emphasized in a virtual FMB9 Dialogue entitled “Infrastructure Readiness and Health Protocols.”

In addition, the ministry will encourage the involvement of local governments to implement the health protocols at all tourist attractions, especially the ones that are expected to be tourist favorites, such as the Puncak area (West Java province) and Lake Toba (North Sumatra province).

"As stated by the BNPB (National Disaster Mitigation Agency), the involvement of the regional governments and the (COVID-19) task forces is also required to carry out health protocols at tourism destinations," he remarked.

He said that one of the keys to the success of the transport management during the 2022 Eid Al Fitr homecoming period was the dissemination of transportation information to the community.

Kurniawan also lauded the police’s attempts at traffic engineering, which made the previous homecoming period a success and could also be applied during the coming holidays.

"Including (providing) the recommendations (for the public) to choose the right time for leaving and returning; it (the recommendation) is very important for people who will carry out (mobility)," he added.

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Translator: Ade Junida, Uyu Liman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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