Majority of Travellers in 2024 Eid Exodus Prefer Trains: Ministry

TheIndonesia.id - Transportation Ministry's Transportation Policy Agency has predicted that majority of people using public transportation modes for traveling home or "mudik" for this year's Eid al-Fitr holiday prefer train services.

The agency's head, Robby Kurniawan, noted that 39.32 million home-bound travellers or about 20.30 per cent of all movements during the Eid al-Fitr holiday season chose intercity train services.

"Looking at the public preferences for transportation modes for home-bound trips, their willingness to use trains is so obvious," Kurniawan stated at a press conference here on Sunday.

He said the limited number of train seats might trigger a shift of travel preferences among home-bound travelers to private vehicles, intercity buses, or motorcycles.

A joint survey conducted by the Transportation Ministry and the Communication and Informatics Ministry showed that 193.6 million residents or 71.7 percent of Indonesia's population were expected to travel during this year's Eid al-Fitr holiday season.

After trains, buses could be chosen by the home-bound travelers as their second most preferred public transportation mode for the Eid exodus. It is expected to transport up to 37.51 million people. The figure is equal to 19.37 percent of the predicted number of this year's home-bound travelers.

Meanwhile, 35.42 million travellers are expected to go by private cars, 31.12 million are projected to travel by motorcycles, and 11.64 million others to use rented cars for Eid travel.

Kurniawan informed that East Java contributes 31.3 million Eid exodus travellers to the Eid trips while the Greater Jakarta areas will contribute 28.43 million travelers and Central Java 26.11 million travelers.

Meanwhile, majority of Eid travellers are projected to return to Central Java (61.6 million), East Java (37.6 million), and West Java (32.1 million), he said.

He further said that the real number of travellers during the Eid al-Fitr holiday season could be different from that of the projected figure as the economic, social-cultural, health, and environmental factors could affect the actual record .

Moreover, the availability or absence of government's policies on travel restriction, duration of collective leave days, connectivity infrastructure conditions, and weather condition could also affect the actual number of travellers, Kurniawan said.