JABAR EKSPRES — The Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) said that cashless payments provide positive benefits for the transportation sector, especially breaking down congestion.

“Cashless as a child of digitalization is a necessity. Cashless helps homecoming run more smoothly. Cashless payments can decompose congestion at transportation nodes, such as airports and ports,” said Ministry of Transportation spokesperson, Adita Irawati, in a webinar on Safe and Comfortable Mudik with Cashless, Monday (17/4), as quoted from her written statement.

According to Adita, cashless payments make homecoming easier, including at rest areas. Therefore, she hopes that telecommunications operators can support the implementation of cashless during homecoming.

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Adita said that digitalization is now a necessity for all sectors, including the transportation sector. In the current era of digitalization, people must inevitably be able to change their habits towards something more efficient, easy, and simple.

“Speaking of digitalization, we must be grateful that when the pandemic hit our country and globally, it gave wisdom in the form of encouragement to transform digitally, from buying tickets to checking in during the trip,” said Adita.

Meanwhile, President Director of PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry (ASDP), Ira Puspadewi stated, that the use of cashless for ticket purchases since August 2018.

At first, she said, it was certainly not easy. ASDP consumers are certainly diverse and many are in the eastern region, plus the availability of infrastructure is different from that in Java and Bali.

“That is a challenge for ASDP, another challenge when implementing cashless is the economic level of the community. In 2018, we started cashless, the rejection was extraordinary, but we could not back down. We implemented it during the Lebaran season and first implemented it on the busiest Merak-Bakauheni route during peak season,” Ira said.