PALEMBANG (ANTARA) – People with disabilities received an electronic card for the South Sumatra Light Rail (LRT) for free from Transport Minister (MainHub) Budi Karya Sumadi at Empera LRT station in Palembang city on Saturday.
Transport Minister Budi Karya, who was accompanied by South Sumatra Governor Herman Deru, symbolically distributed cards to people with disabilities after holding a ceremony to commemorate National Transport Day (Harhubanas) in 2022.
Meanwhile, Udine (42), one of the handicapped people who received this card, said he was happy and also felt the distribution helped because it made it easier for him to work as a home massage worker.
“Me and my disabled friends are happy to have this card as it makes it easier for us to access it at work”
The Ministry of Transport does this in order to reach all levels of South Sumatran society by using public transport such as LRT and to address the increase in fuel prices while increasing the number of LRT service users as the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019 has decreased.
Dewere III Palembang Aida Suryanti, Head of Public Relations of PT Kereta Associated Press Indonesia (KAI), explained that four years after the appearance of the LRT in Palembang, the number of passengers continued to increase. From an initial average of 3,000 passengers per day, the South Sumatra LRT’s operational travel from 2018 to the first quarter of 2020 increased to an average of 7,000 passengers per day.
“The number rose from 10 thousand to 12 thousand passengers on weekends with a total of 927,432 passengers in 2018, increasing to 2,619,159 in 2019, showing that the South Sumatra LRT is an alternative public service with affordable ticket prices and good service quality. There is transportation,” he said. , Saturday (23/7/2022).
Based on data from the South Sumatra Light Railroad Management Center, South Sumatra LRT passenger numbers show an increasingly good trend. The highest growth was in June 2019, with an average of over 10,000 passengers per day and an average passenger load factor of 43 per cent per day.
