Transport in Indonesia

Indonesia has a big and interesting transport system because it is made up of many islands, with most people living on just one island called Java. The way people and things move around the country depends on roads, railways, seas, and airplanes, and each type of transport helps in its own way.

Road transport is very important, with thousands of kilometers of roads connecting different places. The railway system mainly helps move big amounts of goods and people, especially on islands like Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi.

Sea transport is crucial because many islands need ships to connect them for trade and travel. Each big island has at least one major port city where ships come and go.

Airplanes also play a big role, especially when there are no good roads or ships to reach a place. There are many domestic flights so people can travel between major cities quickly.

Water transport

Merchant marine vessels

Because Indonesia has many islands, boats are very important for travel between them. Common boats include big ships that carry things, ferries, ships for passengers, and smaller motor boats. A special wooden boat called the pinisi is still used to carry goods between islands. Main places for these boats are Sunda Kelapa in Jakarta and Paotere harbour in Makassar.

Ferry services often cross between nearby islands, especially from Sumatra through Java to the Lesser Sunda Islands. On busy routes between Sumatra, Java, and Bali, ferries run all day and night. There are also ferries between Sumatra and Malaysia, and between Singapore and islands close to it, like Batam. These ferry services are run by the government and private companies.

Passenger ships travel to faraway islands, especially in the east. The national shipping line, Pelni, goes to ports all over the country every two to four weeks. These ships are often the cheapest way to travel long distances. Smaller boats also help people move between islands.

On some islands, rivers are important for travel when roads are not good. In Kalimantan, longboats on rivers are the only way to reach many places far from the coast.

Waterways

Indonesia has 21,579 kilometres (13,409 miles) of rivers that can be used for boats. About half of these are in Kalimantan, and a quarter each are in Sumatra and Papua. These waterways are important because the rivers are often too narrow for bigger ships, and roads and railways are not always good options. Kalimantan and Papua are not as developed as Java, which has many good roads.

Ports and harbours

Main article: List of Indonesian ports

Big ports and harbours include Bitung, Cilacap, Cirebon, Jakarta, Kupang, Palembang, Semarang, Surabaya, and Makassar. Ports are managed by four Indonesia Port Corporations, each covering different parts of the country. The Port of Tanjung Priok in Jakarta is the busiest, handling over 5.20 million containers each year.

A project to make Tanjung Priok Port bigger is happening now. When finished, it will be three times bigger than it is today. In 2015, work started on a new port in North Sumatra called Kuala Tanjung Port. It is expected to handle 500,000 containers each year and could even compete with the port in Singapore.

Roads and highways

A wide variety of vehicles are used on Indonesia's roads. Bus services are common in most areas connected by roads. Between major cities, especially on Sumatra, Java, and Bali, buses run often and directly, with many express services that don't stop until they reach their final destination.

Intercity bus

The intercity bus service is a major way people travel between cities in Indonesia, either within an island or between islands using ferry crossings. Major bus companies, called P.O., operate mainly in Java and Sumatra. The longest intercity bus route in Indonesia connects Medan in North Sumatra to Jember in East Java, taking about a week to cover 2,920 kilometers.

City bus

Some big cities have city bus services, including special bus rapid transit (BRT) systems. Jakarta has the largest BRT system in the world, stretching over 230.9 kilometers with many routes and carrying many passengers each day. Other cities like Yogyakarta, Surabaya, and Bandung also have their own BRT systems.

Taxis and autorickshaws

Many cities have taxis and motorised autorickshaws, known as bajaj, for hire. Cycle rickshaws, called becak, are also common but have been restricted in places like Jakarta because they cause traffic problems. Ridesharing services like Gojek and Grab have become popular competitors to traditional taxis and motorcycle taxis.

Minibus

In smaller towns and remote areas, minibuses and minivans, called angkot, are common. They often operate as share taxis on fixed routes.

Private cars

As more people in Indonesia can afford them, private cars are becoming more common, especially in big cities. However, this has led to heavy traffic jams, particularly in Jakarta.

National routes

Indonesia has many highways, with some main ones part of the Asian Highway Network. These national routes connect major cities and are designed for both regular traffic and large trucks. In Java, these routes are numbered, while outside Java they are not.

Toll roads

All expressways in Indonesia are toll roads. The first one, the Jagorawi Toll Road, opened in 1978. As of 2021, over 2,386 kilometers of expressways are in use. Since 2018, tolls must be paid using special contactless cards instead of cash. Toll roads exist in many parts of Indonesia, including Java, Sumatra, Sulawesi, the Lesser Sunda Islands, and Kalimantan.

Railways

Main article: Rail transport in Indonesia

Indonesia's main railways, run by Kereta Api Indonesia and its parts, are used for moving people and goods.

Most of the railways are on the island of Java. There are four separate railway groups on Sumatra: one in Aceh, one in North Sumatra, another in West Sumatra, and the last one in South Sumatra and Lampung. South Sulawesi has a railway in Barru Regency because of the Trans-Sulawesi Railway building. The first part, a 146-kilometer track from Makassar to Parepare, finished in November 2022 and has been running since. There are no railways in other parts of Indonesia, but new ones are being built on islands like Kalimantan and Papua.

The trains between cities are helped by local train services, especially around Jakarta and Surabaya. In Jakarta, the KRL Commuterline moves more than a million people each day. There are also train networks in a few cities. Palembang LRT started in 2018, the first of its kind. The Jakarta MRT and Jakarta LRT started in 2019, and the Greater Jakarta LRT system began official service on 28 August 2023, after 11 days of Indonesian Independence Day.

The government planned to build a high-speed rail (HSR) in 2015, the first in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. It will connect Jakarta with Bandung, about 140 kilometres (87 miles) apart. There are also ideas to extend it to Surabaya, the country’s second-largest city. In 2023, the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Rail was partly finished and ready to start carrying passengers in October 2023. It had test runs with people on 7 September 2023 and began regular service on 2 October 2023.

Pipelines

Indonesia has pipelines to move different kinds of energy and water. As of 2013, there were pipelines for condensate covering 1,064 kilometres (661 miles), gas covering 11,702 kilometres (7,271 miles), oil covering 7,767 kilometres (4,826 miles), and other types of liquids and gases covering shorter distances. These pipelines help transport resources across the country's many islands.

Air transport

Main article: Aviation in Indonesia

Air travel is very important in Indonesia because it connects many islands. Indonesia has thousands of islands, and many people live there. Because it is a big country with lots of islands, many people choose to fly instead of using other ways to travel. This has made air travel very popular.

There have been some safety problems with flights in Indonesia. The country has many challenges, like old airports and bad weather. But many people still fly, and experts think Indonesia will become a very big market for air travel in the future.

Airports

Main article: List of airports in Indonesia

Indonesia has many airports. The biggest one is in Jakarta, called Soekarno–Hatta International Airport. It is very busy and handles lots of travelers.

Airlines

Main article: List of airlines of Indonesia

Indonesia has many airlines. Some well-known ones include Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air, Sriwijaya Air, and Indonesia AirAsia. These airlines help people travel around the country.

Mudik

Main article: Mudik

Mudik, also called Pulang Kampung, is a special time in Indonesia when people travel back to their hometowns or villages for big holidays, especially Lebaran or Eid al-Fitr. Many people leave Greater Jakarta by train, plane, car, or bus, making stations, airports, and roads very busy. In 2023, about 123 million people traveled this way.

Because so many people want to travel around Lebaran, train and airplane tickets become harder to find and cost more. Some airlines add extra flights to help with the busy time. Train services also add more trains to carry everyone. Bus companies charge more for tickets during mudik, and roads often get very crowded with long traffic jams.