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Transportation in Indonesia

Transportation is the movement of people or goods from one place to another using a vehicle driven by humans or machines. The most common modes of transportation in Indonesia include flights and ferries for inter-island transportation services, and various types of road vehicles for land transportation such as buses, trains, taxis and motorcycle taxis ("Ojek").

Trains are only limited to Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi, but will be widely available in the future. Flights, ferries, buses, taxis and motorbike taxis including the Go-Jek and Grab application services are present on almost all islands in Indonesia.

Dlium Transportation in Indonesia

WATER TRANSPORTATION

Indonesia is an archipelagic country and water transportation is an important means of connecting many places. Many ships are used including various types of ferries, passenger ships, and small motorized vessels. The ferry serves the adjacent island strait route.

Ferries are operated 24 hours per day at busy crossings such as Sumatra, Java and Bali. Some international ferries also serve the Malacca Strait between Sumatra, Malaysia, Singapore, and small Indonesian islands such as Batam.

Some networks also serve longer sea connections to remote islands, especially in eastern Indonesia. PT Pelni is a state-owned service company serving the route on a schedule every two to four weeks. Other private vessels also serve on various other routes.

Some of the busy sea ports are Medan, Cilacap, Jakarta, Kupang, Palembang, Semarang, Surabaya, Makassar, Manado, Balikpapan, Banjarmasin, Samarinda, Ambon, Sorong, Manokwari, Jayapura and Merauke.

The river is the key to transportation in several forested areas. Long boats go along rivers and efficient ways to reach many places in Kalimantan, Sumatra and Papua. Indonesia has 21,579 km of river transportation lines, about half of which are in Kalimantan and one quarter each in Sumatra and Papua.

LAND TRANSPORTATION

Bus and taxi

Bus services are found in many areas which are contacted by highways, especially in Sumatra, Java, and Bali. In smaller areas many highway transportation is served by minibuses or small vans. Many cities have taxi and motorcycle taxi services. Indonesia has around 200,000 km of paved roads.

Train

Indonesia has 6,458 km of active railroad tracks and is only available in Java, North Sumatra and Sulawesi for now. Trains in Indonesia are operated by PT KA, a state-owned company. The main cities traversed by railroad tracks are Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Surabaya, Makassar and Parepare.

Air Transport

The country has international and local airports for a total of more than 500 spots. The main cities for flights are Jakarta, Medan, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar, Makassar, Kupang, Balikpapan, Banjarmasin, Samarinda, Ambon, Manado, Sorong, Manokwari, Jayapura and Merauke.

Airlines serve local routes in Indonesia including Garuda Indonesia, Citilink Airlines, Lion Air, Merpati Airlines, Batik Air, Wings Air, Sriwijaya Air, Batavia Air, Mandala Airlines, Kal Star Aviation, Susi Air, Tiger Air and Air Asia.

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