Khaberni -The Minister of Interior, Mazen Al-Faraya, chaired a meeting this morning, Sunday, at the King Hussein Bridge, attended by bridge officials and the CEO of JET for passenger transportation, to discuss the issues and complaints related to the electronic booking service for travelers across the bridge and the inability to book for several days. This situation exposes travelers to exploitation and relatively long waiting times, causing congestion and pressure in providing services.
The minister emphasized to all officials and the CEO of JET the necessity of receiving all observations and complaints, studying them, and finding appropriate solutions to address them, in a manner that reflects the main idea of the bridge, considering it a humanitarian passage aimed at facilitating the crossing of citizens and Palestinian brethren in both directions, and according to humanitarian priorities and the purpose of using the bridge.
In this context, Minister Al-Faraya reviewed the reality of these observations and complaints and listened to a briefing from the bridge officials and the CEO of JET, where it was indicated that the main problem is due to travelers arriving at the King Hussein Bridge early, before the travel time, causing overcrowding and long waiting times until departure. Additionally, there are individuals affected by activating the platform, trying to create confusion about its effectiveness.
On the other hand, there is a problem in the nature of the electronic booking service for travelers, which allows one person to buy several tickets without a specified limit, and the traveler himself does not enter the platform to purchase his ticket or his family's, but buys them from others, exposing him to exploitation, resulting in tickets being sold at high illegal prices.
Moreover, it was noted that there are groups of people who frequently use the bridge for profit-oriented and various other purposes, which are not closely linked to the primary priorities of using the bridge, increasing congestion and delaying the movement of travelers and affecting the smoothness of procedures, due to the limited daily number of bridge users according to the arrangements with the other party.
In addressing these issues and complaints, the Minister of Interior directed the officials at the bridge and JET for passenger transportation to implement a series of measures and instructions, such as not allowing one person to purchase only a limited number of electronic tickets, specifying the name of the ticket user and the necessity of issuing the electronic ticket in the name of the traveler himself with high specifications that are not susceptible to forgery, and matching the traveler's name on the ticket with his name recorded in the passport, in coordination between JET and the security forces working at the bridge, and not allowing anyone to enter the bridge area who does not have a travel ticket.
Minister Al-Faraya also requested JET to reorganize the special service for travelers (V.I.P), so that it becomes an electronic service, organized through electronic booking via the platform, instead of personal attendance at the service site, in addition to upgrading the facilities of this service and facilitating its procedures, in accordance with the intended goal.
Furthermore, the Minister of Interior urged the traveling brothers to arrive at the bridge half an hour before the departure time and not to come early, to avoid long waiting periods, with the aim of reducing congestion and facilitating the procedures followed until departure.
Minister Al-Faraya also emphasized to the concerned authorities the necessity to work, in coordination with the Directorate of Information Technology at the Ministry center, to identify categories of people who frequently use the bridge for special purposes, disrupting the operations and delaying ordinary travelers, and the need to take a series of measures aimed at restricting their illegal use of the bridge.
Moreover, Minister Al-Faraya directed the Governor of Balqa and the Director of West Balqa Police to implement sustained security campaigns in the areas surrounding the bridge to control lawbreakers who exploit travelers in an unlawful manner, and to coordinate with the municipality of Shuna Al-Wusta to rehabilitate the area adjacent to the bridge and establish a car park instead of parking on the sides of the roads.
The Minister of Interior conducted a field tour of various bridge facilities and reviewed the services provided there, listening directly from travelers about the nature of the challenges and observations related to using the bridge, and he emphasized to the concerned parties the necessity of addressing all observations and complaints and that he will follow up on the measures taken in this context firsthand, to ensure optimal service provision for travelers.
It is noted that, last June, JET for passenger transportation announced the launch of travelers' booking service on the King Hussein Bridge through electronic booking only, via a specialized booking platform prepared in coordination with the Ministry of Interior, where digitizing the ticket booking services has contributed to improving procedures in various aspects.
