Holiday transportation prepares

Holiday transportation prepares

JAKARTA (JP): To meet the anticipated increase in passenger-
activity during the Christmas and year-end holidays, the
government will provide additional transportation services from
Dec. 18 to Jan. 8, 1996.

Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto said in a
hearing with the House Commission for Transportation yesterday
that the number of passengers will likely increase by between 7
percent and 10 percent during the holiday season.

He said additional services will also be prepared for the Idul
Fitri holiday in February next year.

"Additional air transportation services for Idul Fitri will be
provided during the Feb. 14-Feb. 29 period, while additional sea
transportation services will be made from Feb. 7 to March 9."

Some additional 25,000 buses will be prepared during the Idul
Fitri holiday, when the number of passengers is expected to
increase by 15 percent to 13 million, he said.

"We will also try to accommodate about 2.2 million people
using trains for the next Idul Fitri holiday," he said. "Some 220
locomotives will be provided as well as 880 railway cars with a
total capacity of 150,000 passengers per day."

Haryanto said that over three million people and 300,000
vehicles will likely use ferry services, for which the government
will provide some 70 ferries for crossing services between Merak
in West Java and Bakauheni in Lampung, between Ketapang in East
Java and Gilimanuk in Bali and between Padang Bai in Bali and
Lembar in Lombok.

He said that for sea transportation the government will
prepare 16 vessels to serve 72 ports in 24 provinces.

Twenty container ships will be used to transport up to 2,100
passengers and 34 other goods vessels for 4,350 passengers, he
added.

"The number of air transportation passengers is also estimated
to increase by 15 percent to about 950,000 during the holiday.
The country's airlines Bouraq, Garuda, Mandala, Merpati and
Sempati will increase their services in 17 airports," Haryanto
said.

The state-owned shipping operator PT Pelni will also prepare
vessels to transport up to 2,400 cattle, while private shippers
will prepare vessels with a total capacity of 17,700 tons of
commodities, he said.

When asked about possible fare hikes, Haryanto said yesterday
that the government had decided not to raise public
transportation fares this year.

The organization of land transportation owners, Organda, had
officially proposed that the government raise public
transportation fares.

"The government will discuss the fares in the House of
Representatives next month," he said. (icn)