Arya News - The free `mudik` program for the 2025 Idul Fitri holiday season will still run, despite budget cuts, to suppress the use of private vehicles and reduce traffic congestion.
JAKARTA – The Transportation Ministry will continue the free mudik (exodus) program for 2025 Idul Fitri holiday season to suppress the number of travelers using private vehicles and reduce congestion along the way.
“The ministry will organize the free mudik program just like in previous years,” Transportation Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said on Thursday, as quoted by the ministry’s website dephub.go.id .
“Despite budget cuts, we will continue the program to suppress the use of private vehicles and reduce congestion on highways during the Idul Fitri period and more importantly for travelers’ safety.”
The free mudik program held by the ministry is available for land, sea and rail transport and will be held in several transportation hubs.
For land transportation, the Land Transportation Directorate General provides 520 buses for 21,536 passengers and 10 trucks to carry 300 motorcycles. There are 31 destinations in Sumatra, West Java, Central Java and East Java.
The Sea Transportation Directorate General provides free tickets for 47,816 passengers for 153 routes, while the Railway Directorate General provides a quota for 16,960 passengers and 7,424 motorcycles.
Dudy also said the ministry was working on an app to prevent multiple registrations for this year’s free mudik program.
He said that the integrated application would be connected to organizers of free mudik programs.
“We want the free mudik program to be controlled. The expectation is there are no longer travelers who register at multiple programs,” Dudy said, adding that information on the program could be followed on ministry’s social media accounts @kemenhub151 .
Dudy said that while the details of the app were still under development, the ministry remained committed to coordinating closely with other mudik program organizers, including the Jakarta administration.
Dudy met Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung on March 3 to discuss and coordinate the mudik travel arrangements.
The coordination efforts also include aligning departure schedules with the government’s policy on remote work for civil servants and state-owned enterprises employees.
The aim was to ease congestion during the peak travel period.
“We hope those eligible, such as civil servants and SOEs employees, will be granted flexibility to leave early since they can work remotely,” Dudy said as quoted by tempo.co .
The work-from-anywhere (WFA) initiative is expected to reduce traffic congestion as Indonesia prepares for two major religious holidays, Nyepi on March 29 and Idul Fitri on March 31.
To participate in the free mudik program, applicants must provide valid identification and register for a single destination. Round-trip registrations must be completed at the same time, and travelers are required to reconfirm their tickets within seven days of registration to prevent no-shows.
Those traveling with motorcycles must present vehicle documents, and only motorcycles with engines of up to 200cc are permitted.