Fewer people join 2001 Idul Fitri exodus

Leo Wahyudi S. and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

People had to struggle hard to get a ticket to celebrate Idul Fitri at their hometowns. Many also had to suffer for hours in traffic jams on their way home. But compared with last year, the number of people who participated in this year's exodus reportedly dropped by 50 percent.

Last year, about 2.3 million people left the city at Idul Fitri. But this year, during the period from Dec. 9, or seven days before the holidays, to Tuesday, the figure reached only 1.1 million, according to head of the City Transportation Agency Rustam Effendy.

The number did not include those who went by private transportation.

Meanwhile, people have started to return to the city, as recorded at the Pulo Gadung bus terminal in East Jakarta. On Monday, it recorded around 22,400 passenger arrivals on 470 buses. More were expected on the following day.

Effendy said that there was a sharp drop in people participating in the annual exodus, probably because the school holidays had started several weeks before Idul Fitri. "Many parents took their children earlier to their hometowns," he said.

Jakarta's population at night is more than 8.3 million, but during the day, workers from the city's buffer zones of Tangerang, Bekasi and Depok bring the number up considerably to 11 million people.

A street vendor in Jatinegara, East Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post that he did not celebrate Idul Fitri at his hometown in Padang, West Sumatra. This was not only because he and his family had done it last year, but also because he could not afford it.

"I didn't make much money this year, so we celebrated Idul Fitri here," Soleh said.

Others delayed their departure to avoid the crowds.

However, one day after Idul Fitri, Senen railway station surprisingly was packed with thousands of travelers lining up for tickets, both on economy and business class trains.

More travelers are expected to depart from the station, as computer data has revealed that seats for Dec. 19 to Dec. 23 departures for trains to Yogyakarta, Semarang and Surabaya have been fully booked.

When asked the reason for going home after Idul Fitri, a traveler to Surabaya said, "I thought departing after 'D-day' would be less crowded, but in fact, there is still a crowd here."

On Sunday, or the first day of Idul Fitri, around 20,000 passengers embarked from the railway station and the following day it was around 16,500, which indicated an increase of around 43 percent compared with last year.

State railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia put on business class trains to depart from Senen. Previously the trains departed from Gambir station.

Pulo Gadung, however, did not see many passengers leaving the city. Only 12,100 travelers left, heading for various destinations.