Holiday travelers trickle back to Jakarta

Holiday travelers trickle back to Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): The number of people returning from their Idul
Fitri holidays did not increase significantly yesterday.

According to National Police Chief Gen. Banurusman
Astrosemitro, travelers may continue to return as late as Sunday
because many people extended the holiday to visit tourist
attractions around their hometowns.

"Our personnel will continue to monitor every inch of road to
secure the travelers until the weekend," Banurusman said in
Cilegon, West Java.

As of yesterday evening, the toll roads leading into Jakarta
had recorded no significant increase in the number of vehicles.

Bambang, an officer at the Cikampek-Jakarta toll road,
revealed that only 37,341 vehicles from Java passed along the
highway on Monday, compared to the 37,388 vehicles recorded on
Sunday and the 45,000 a day leading up to the Idul Fitri
holidays.

"Today, we recorded a total of only 12,854 vehicles from 7
a.m. up to 2 p.m.," Bambang told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

He said that most of the vehicles passed by late in the
evening or early in the morning.

A similar lack of returnees was the norm at many bus terminals
and railway stations in the city.

The Kampung Rambutan terminal in East Jakarta, for instance,
recorded 949 buses with a total of 40,426 passengers on Monday.

"From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. today, we recorded only 363 buses with
17,424 passengers," Hero, an officer at the terminal, told the
Post.

"That's similar to a normal day," he declared.

The officer guessed that many passengers got off the buses
before arriving at the terminal.

A small increase of travelers was recorded at the Pulogadung
terminal in East Jakarta.

According to Narto, an officer at the terminal, 1,554 buses
carrying 84,231 passengers arrived at the terminal on Monday,
slightly higher than the daily exodus of 60,000 passengers
recorded a few days ago.

"It's quite busy here today and more people will return
tomorrow morning," Narto assured. (bsr)