Government Prepares 2,000 Buses for Free Mudik Programme for Eid 2026

Jakarta — The government is relaunching its free mudik programme to assist citizens in returning to their home towns for Eid 2026. The programme forms part of the government’s strategy to reduce congestion from private vehicles on roadways.

The Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) is partnering with various parties, including state-owned enterprises and regional governments, to expand the programme’s reach.

Beyond providing transport alternatives for the public, the initiative also aims to reduce the use of motorcycles for long-distance travel, which carries significant safety risks.

Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi explained that the government has prepared hundreds of buses for the programme.

“The Ministry of Transportation is preparing a free mudik programme with overland transport to 34 destination cities using approximately 401 buses,” Dudy stated.

In addition to the government, several state-owned enterprises are also participating in the programme.

“State-owned enterprises are preparing roughly 1,400 buses,” he said.

With the additional fleet from various parties, the capacity of this year’s free mudik programme is expected to increase substantially.

“We estimate approximately 2,000 buses will be prepared to operate the free mudik programme,” Dudy said.

He emphasised that coordination among organisers needs to be strengthened to ensure departure schedules do not cluster at the same time.

“Given that many parties are organising the free mudik programme, scheduling of departures is necessary to prevent the clustering of vehicles on main toll roads,” Dudy said.