DAMRI and PPD to deal with the Idul Fitri exodus

DAMRI and PPD to deal with the Idul Fitri exodus

JAKARTA (JP): The government will use buses of two state-owned companies as the main fleet for the transportation of people leaving from Jakarta for the Idul Fitri holidays in February, a minister said yesterday.

"The state-owned transportation company DAMRI and the Jakarta administration-owned bus firm PPD will be the main suppliers of buses for transporting passengers in the coming Idul Fitri holiday, while the private bus companies will have a complementary function," Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto told reporters here after opening a seminar on regulations on export-import activities.

He said that the operation of some 150 buses from various private companies which were black-listed during last year's Idul Fitri holiday for having raised their fares unwarrantedly, will be limited to feeder operations.

The minister said in a recent hearing with the House of Representatives' commission for transportation that an additional 25,000 buses will be prepared for the next Idul Fitri holidays, when the number of passengers is expected to increase by 15 percent to 13 million.

However, sources at the DAMRI and PPD companies told The Jakarta Post yesterday that they plan to operate only 461 and 300 buses respectively for the holiday.

The minister also said that the state-shipping company PT Pelni will provide two ships for travelers in the Lebaran holiday to serve Jakarta, Semarang in Central Java and Surabaya in East Java.

He said that during the Christmas and new year holidays, his company's service will be concentrated on the Jakarta-Manado- Ambon routes.

Haryanto said yesterday that the government has involved the organization of land transportation owners, Organda, in the preparations of transportation measures during the new year and Idul Fitri holidays. (kod)