Holiday makers pack bus, railway stations
Holiday makers pack bus, railway stations
JAKARTA (JP): People intending to celebrate Idul Fitri in their hometowns have started mobbing bus terminals and train stations.
They choose to travel to their hometowns as early as possible to avoid being trapped in long traffic jams, which is the natural order of the day at this time of year.
"We are afraid that we won't be able to get tickets to go home if we delay our trip and then we won't be able to celebrate Idul Fitri with our relatives," Nuraeni, a passenger, said.
According to city administration data, the number of people traveling to other cities this Idul Fitri holiday is projected to increase by 10 percent to over two million.
Antara news agency reported that from Monday night to Tuesday afternoon thousands of passengers swarmed Pulogadung bus terminal in East Jakarta and Senen railway station in Central Jakarta.
Many people were stranded in Pulogadung because the bus companies did not anticipate the sharp rise in passengers.
An official of the terminal explained that, due to traffic jams on the northern coast of Java, many buses weren't arriving on schedule.
"Only 70 buses entered the terminal from Monday night to Tuesday afternoon," he said.
The limited availability of vehicles made people jostle each other when entering buses. Many boarded buses as soon as the vehicles entered the terminal and before they were stationary.
The City Land Transportation Agency decided recently to deploy over 7,000 buses from Feb. 24 to March 11 in a special operation called Angkutan Lebaran 1995 (Idul Fitri Transportation) in an effort to convey the large number of passengers.
Meanwhile, head of the Senen train station Bey Arief said the number of people traveling by train from the station has also increased sharply since Saturday night.
He said on Saturday 7,288 people left the city from the station, another 12,180 people on Sunday and 9,000 on Monday.
Bey expressed confidence that the railway will be able to accommodate all its passengers. "The state-owned railway company Perumka has prepared three additional trains for the holiday period," he said, adding that the number of people traveling will peak next Sunday.
He said that in a bid to avoid a glut in the number of passengers a few days before Idul Fitri, which falls on March 3 and 4, Perumka is offering discounts of 10-15 percent to passengers traveling between Feb. 21 to 24 and between March 13 to 18. (yns)