Exodus continues during Idul Fitri holidays<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A large number of people were forced to
\ncelebrate Idul Fitri traveling to their hometowns due to
\novercrowding at bus terminals and railway stations before the
\nholidays.<\/p>\n
Thousands of people who failed to get bus or train tickets
\nbefore the holidays said they had to postpone their trips until
\nTuesday or yesterday.<\/p>\n
From morning to 2 p.m. yesterday almost 650 buses carrying
\n31,000 people left from 25 bus terminals in Jakarta for West,
\nCentral and East Java.<\/p>\n
The flow of passengers started in the morning after the Idul
\nFitri prayer was over.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday a total of 1,929 buses carrying 83,060 people left
\nJakarta from the terminals.<\/p>\n
An official at East Jakarta's Pulogadung bus terminal said
\nyesterday that as many as 35,662 people were taken by 686 buses
\nfrom Pulogadung to their hometowns. On Monday, 824 buses carried
\n43,702 passengers.<\/p>\n
As many as 21,277 buses were deployed by the government to
\ntransport 920,564 passengers from Feb. 13 to 19.<\/p>\n
Records also indicated that 556,030 people left by train from
\nFeb. 13 to 19, while on Tuesday about 13,000 people left the city
\nby train from Senen station.<\/p>\n
At Gambir station many people were still queuing to get train
\ntickets to Bandung and Cirebon yesterday.<\/p>\n
The peaks<\/p>\n
The peaks of this year's exodus fell on Friday and Sunday. On
\nFriday 151,944 people left the city by bus and 58,309 others by
\ntrain. On Sunday 111,187 and 66,787 people left by bus and train
\nrespectively.<\/p>\n
The government predicted that as many as 3.5 million people
\nwould leave the capital for the Idul Fitri holidays this year.<\/p>\n
This years' exodus was colored by very serious traffic
\ncongestion. Director General of Land Transportation Soejono has
\nblamed drivers of private cars for the problems, especially on
\nJava's northern coast (Pantura) routes. He said most of motorists
\nlacked discipline. "Traffic flows could have been better if they
\n(drivers) had been disciplined."<\/p>\n
The number of people leaving the city by public transportation
\nwas lower than last year.<\/p>\n
The number of people who left the city by bus from Feb. 13 to
\n19 was 920,564 people compared to 939,051 travelers in the same
\nperiod last year.<\/p>\n
It was estimated that more than 1.85 million people will leave
\nthe city by bus during this year's Idul Fitri holidays, or
\n210,000 more than last year.<\/p>\n
A similar situation also happened on the trains. From Feb. 13
\nto 19 the trains carried only 556,030 people, fewer than the
\n571,822 last year.<\/p>\n
"Yes, it is lower than last year, caused possibly by some
\nJakartans being afraid to leave their houses because of the
\nfloods. Others may have been forced to use their money to repair
\nthe damage caused by the flood," Museno said. (yns\/04)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/exodus-continues-during-idul-fitri-holidays-1447893297",
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