Hundreds of Cars Stray into Rice Fields While Heading to Purwomartani Toll Gate Due to Navigation Apps

Hundreds of four-wheeled vehicle drivers have strayed into rural rice field areas after following digital navigation apps or maps to reach the Purwomartani Toll Gate (GT) in Sleman, DI Yogyakarta, on Tuesday (24/3). Based on observations, one car after another was seen traversing the rice field roads in Karang Kalasan, Tirtomartani, Kalasan, Sleman since Tuesday afternoon. The location is precisely east of RSI PDHI. This route leads to Jalan Cangkringan, passing through residential areas and under-construction road sections towards the GT Purwomartani. From Jalan Cangkringan, drivers still need to travel a few hundred metres along Jalan Solo before reaching the access to the GT Purwomartani. As evening approached, the queue of vehicles crossing this rice field route grew longer. Local residents even had to water their front yards due to the dust kicked up by the passing cars. Satrio, a resident of Jakarta, claimed he was directed by the Maps app until he ended up in the rice field area. “I’m heading back to Jakarta, taking this route because I followed the maps and there were no officers directing earlier,” said Satrio when interviewed while still sitting in his car. Similarly, another returnee from Jakarta, Damar, expressed surprise when the asphalt road ended and turned into a dirt path. He simply followed Google Maps instructions. “The Maps directed me here, so suddenly I’m in the rice fields. I hesitated, but it was too late to turn back. The destination is the toll road; this is from Jakarta, returning from Eid in Jogja back to Jakarta,” he explained. Meanwhile, Haryono, a Sleman resident heading home to Surabaya, East Java, said he was routed through the rice fields because the Jalan Solo route—the national road access to GT Purwomartani—was already congested. He entered the rice field area after activating Maps from Tajem, Maguwoharjo, Depok, then directed past the side of Candi Sambisari, Purwomartani, Kalasan. “The rice field road is what it is, a dirt road, coy. Still uneven, not all levelled,” he said. One local resident, Ehsan Abdurrohman, noted that the situation with cars entering rice fields and settlements has been ongoing since Sunday (22/3). Just today, the Karang Kalasan resident counted hundreds of vehicles passing in front of his house. Ehsan, along with several other residents, has been helping direct drivers to Jalan Cangkringan, which he said is 100-200 metres from the Yogyakarta-Solo toll road segment Prambanan-Purwomartani. “It’s really chaotic; if not directed like this, it’s pitiful—they could all get lost. It’s lessened a bit; Sunday was the worst. Yesterday (Monday) up to thousands, today until afternoon just hundreds,” he stated. Ehsan and the other residents are helping voluntarily without charging a single penny. “Yesterday until late at night, even passing the rice field road until around seven [in the evening],” he added. For information, the operating hours of the Purwomartani Toll Gate (GT) have been extended by two hours to support the Eid return flow in 2026. The GT Purwomartani on the Yogyakarta-Solo toll road segment Prambanan-Purwomartani has been functionally open since 16 March until 29 March. Initially, the operating hours for this section and GT were from 06.00 WIB to 18.00 WIB. However, since 22 March, the hours have been extended until 20.00 WIB. The extension of the GT Purwomartani operating duration aims to ease traffic density towards Klaten or Central Java. Police report that traffic flow entering and exiting the DIY region has shown an increasing trend this week. The number of vehicles passing through the functional Yogya-Solo Toll via GT Purwomartani is nearly reaching 1,500 per hour. According to data from the DIY Smart Province Back Office, traffic flow at GT Purwomartani today has exceeded 1,000 vehicles per hour since 08.00-09.00 WIB. The vehicle count has steadily increased, with the highest so far during 13.00-14.00 WIB, namely 1,899 vehicles per hour. Cumulatively, from 06.00 WIB to 15.00 WIB, 11,802 vehicles have passed through GT Purwomartani.