The Transportation Ministry is planning to subsidize transportation services in the National Tourism Strategic Area (KSPN) to help tourists access comfortable, affordable, and safe transportation services.
“One of the ways to accelerate the recovery of the economy is through tourism revival,” Director of Road Transport at the Ministry of Transportation Suharto said in a statement issued in Jakarta on Monday.
The support for KSPN intermodal transportation in the form of public transportation subsidies is meant to serve as the Transportation Ministry’s contribution to the tourism sector. The ministry is also developing an intermodal transportation network for ensuring connectivity within and between KSPN areas, Suharto informed.
“We aim to encourage the growth and even distribution of the people-based local economy in KSPN. Especially during the recovery period after COVID, (when) most regions are trying to revive their economy by attracting tourists,” he said.
The advantage of KSPN transportation run by the ministry is the provision of integrated and connected transportation in tourism areas and between tourism areas, he added. Besides, the transportation comes with GPS tracking and a non-cash payment option at an affordable price through the provision of government subsidies.
Suharto said that the ministry has been running the program since 2020. The ministry provided 11 KSPNs 110 buses in 2020, 15 KSPNs 43 buses in 2021, and 10 KSPNs 72 buses.
The KSPN transportation served 108,691 passengers in 2020, 55,221 passengers in 2021, and 98,522 passengers until July 2022, he informed.
In 2022, the Ministry of Transportation has allocated a budget of Rp25.7 billion to support KSPN transportation at 10 destinations, including for four routes in Lake Toba using eight buses, four routes in Bukittinggi with four buses, two routes in Tanjung Kelayang with four buses, two routes in Tanjung Lesung with four buses, five routes in Borobudur with 16 buses, four routes in Bromo Tengger Semeru with eight buses, two routes in Pacitan with four buses, five routes in Mandalika with 15 buses, one route in Labuan Bajo with four buses, and three routes in Likupang with five buses.
Head of the Sub-Directorate for Multimodal and Intermodal Transportation Iman Sukandar informed that attempts will be made so that the intermodal transportation at KSPN uses electric vehicles to help the tourism areas reach zero emissions.
For this, the government has prepared stages for the introduction of battery-based electric motorized vehicles (KBLBB) at KSPN Borobudur and Lake Toba, while other areas will follow.
“To support the smooth implementation of this activity, an IT system with non-cash payments will be used, including an application from one of the bus operators, namely DamriApps,” Sukandar said.
He reported that the trial of KSPN transportation in Borobudur and Lake Toba went smoothly. In Borobudur, the trial was carried out in collaboration with PT INKA on June 4, 2022, on the Borobudur Temple-Prambanan-Malioboro route. Meanwhile, the initial trial phase on Lake Toba took place on July 19, 2022, at Balige Harbor.
Source: Antara News