Indonesian Ministry of Transportation Responds to Merak Port's 4-Hour Queue

JAKARTADAILY.ID - A queue at Merak Harbor that lasted up to four hours angered residents and drove them to vent their frustration on social media.

The congestion began at the Merak Banten toll road entrance, which had been the case since Wednesday, April 27, 2022. The density of travelers resulted in prospective passengers waiting for hours outside the ship.

"[I spent] four hours and a half [to get to the port], from the toll exit to the Merak Port entrance gate," said a traveler with the social media handle @Lyraauliakss.

"My neighbors [left] from Cirendeu at 5 a.m., [on] 11 a.m. [they] were about to exit the MBZ (Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed) toll road," said another Twitter user with the account handle @Didepancangkir.

Residents' complaints are accommodated in the comments section of the HRD Mudik social media account. Apart from complaining about the heavy traffic jams that have crept up since the MBZ toll road, tickets forfeited due to delays have become another problem.

The prospective passengers regretted that the tickets were forfeited due to late check-in. They regarded that their reason for being late was the traffic jam, which was incidentally beyond their control.

In response to the occurrence, the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Transportation Djoko Sasono has then shared tips for Eid homecomers to avoid the same situation on the next travel day, especially for those who want to make the crossing from Merak Port to Bakauheni.

"By learning from experience, the tips are to prepare well for things such as vehicles and travel documents," said Djoko Sasono, as quoted by Antara.

The Secretary-General of the Ministry of Transportation added that travelers on the Merak Port route ought to prepare tickets from the start so as not to cause queues at the port.

Djoko Sasono later hoped that all parties, including travelers, could act cooperatively so that the increase in the number of homecomers this year would not spoil the comfort of all.

Based on the data from the state-owned river, lake and crossing transportation firm or ASDP of Merak, it was recorded that the number of passengers crossing from Merak to Bakauheni port for the period of ten to six days before Eid al-Fitr was 223,468 passengers.

The number of passengers who made the crossing comprised 10,022 pedestrians and 213,446 passengers in vehicles.

Meanwhile, the number of vehicles crossing from Merak to Bakauheni during the aforementioned period was 52,580 vehicles, which consisted of 8,134 two-wheeled vehicles, 26,627 four-wheeled vehicles, 1,849 buses, and 15,970 trucks.

The article was translated from Pikiran-Rakyat.com's article titled "Pelabuhan Merak Macet hingga 4 Jam, Kemenhub Bagi Tips Buat Pemudik yang Hendak Menyeberang".