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)