21,000 Vehicles with Insufficient E-Toll Balance Cause Traffic Jams

Jasa Marga’s President Director, Rivan A. Purwantono, has reminded Eid return travellers to ensure they have sufficient electronic money (e-toll) balances before entering toll roads. This advice comes after an evaluation of the period from H-10 to H+1 of Eid, or 11-22 March 2026, which revealed that 21,000 vehicles had insufficient e-toll balances at the Kalikangkung Toll Gate on the Batang-Semarang Toll Road. As a result, these travellers had to top up their e-toll at the gate, leading to long traffic jams. According to Rivan, this number represents 4.9 percent of the total 442,000 vehicles that transacted at the Kalikangkung gate during the same period. “Insufficient e-toll balances lead to high top-up activity at the toll gate, causing significant delays and queues,” he stated in a written release on Tuesday, 24 March 2026, as quoted from Antara. In line with this, he predicts similar conditions could occur during the return flow, particularly at the Cikampek Utama gate. Therefore, Jasa Marga urges road users to anticipate the return journey by ensuring sufficient e-toll balances before entering the toll road to avoid vehicle queues and maintain smooth traffic flow. “Prepare sufficient e-toll balances before continuing your journey, especially from the Trans-Java direction towards Jakarta,” Rivan said. For trips from Semarang to Jakarta, Rivan advises group I vehicle users to prepare a minimum e-toll balance of Rp500,000. Meanwhile, for users travelling from Surabaya to Jakarta, a minimum balance of Rp1,000,000 is recommended. Rivan stated that if top-up processes occur at the Cikampek Utama gate for thousands of passing vehicles, it would disadvantage road users. “Because travel time is wasted just waiting for the top-up process.” To this end, Jasa Marga once again requests cooperation from road users to regularly check their e-toll balances for smooth return travel. Rivan also reminded road users, especially those travelling on the Trans-Java Toll Road with a closed transaction system (distance-based tariffs), that the e-toll card used at tap-in must be the same as the one used at tap-out. Thus, Rivan said, road users cannot use another person’s card if the balance is insufficient. “For transaction convenience, road users can top up e-toll balances through various channels, including the Travoy application, mobile banking services from the issuing bank, retail outlets/minimarkets, or top-up facilities at rest areas,” he said. Furthermore, Rivan urged road users to obey traffic signs and follow officers’ instructions when entering the Cikampek Utama gate on the Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road. Because even the smallest disruption in the toll gate area can impact traffic flow and potentially cause vehicle queues.