Idul Ftri exodus has peaked

Idul Ftri exodus has peaked

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of thousands of travelers flocked to the city bus terminals and railway stations yesterday to get tickets to their hometowns for this Friday's Idul Fitri holiday.

The dispersal of homeward bound travelers, which began early last week, reached its peak on Saturday and yesterday evening, causing heavy traffic along the roads and highways heading to Central and East Java as well as the island of Sumatra.

The weather was generally good except for some points on the Jakarta-Cikampek and Jagorawi toll-roads, where rain fell briefly yesterday afternoon.

Police have recorded scores of accidents over the past two days, some of which have claimed several lives, including an eight-year-old boy and a bus crew member.

Police said most of the accidents, which took place on the crowded highway to Bekasi, Cirebon, and Pamanukan, West Java, and Brebes, Central Java, were due to carelessness.

Although both the north and south routes linking Jakarta to the eastern part of Java are still crammed with a large number of vehicles, the Idul Fitri traffic is still flowing thanks to the 24-hour watch of thousands of policemen, military troops and other transportation ministry personnel.

According to various officials, many motorists have chosen to use the northern route over the alternative one in the south.

Holiday

Idul Fitri is celebrated by Moslems all over the world to mark the end of the Ramadhan fasting month. Many Indonesian Moslems traditionally spend the two-day public holiday in their hometowns with their families.

This year, the number of homeward bound travelers from the city is expected to reach four million people, or around 40 percent of Jakarta's total population. The number is almost double that of last year's record.

To manage the exodus, particularly those leaving Jakarta, the government usually spend billions of rupiahs to control traffic and to provide additional buses, trains, planes and vessels.

Several additional toll gates have been opened to avoid heavy congestion.

On Saturday, for example, a long line of vehicles failed to get inside the Pulo Gadung bus terminal in East Jakarta, and thousands of other passengers had to fight to get on the buses.

Also on Saturday some 20,000 passengers departed from the Senen railway station in Central Jakarta, almost double the number of departures from the previous day.

Several women from the Kramat Tunggak red-light area in North Jakarta, for instance, have chosen a more unusual means of transport and have rented motorcycles to reach West Java.

"It's much more efficient for us. We'll face less traffic congestion and we can use the bikes later to visit our relatives in the kampongs," said one of the women.

Still crowded

Yesterday, people were still packing the bus terminals and railway stations in the city. But all went orderly and transportation officials did their utmost to help the travelers.

"It's our job to manage the influx of passengers," commented Abdul Hakim, head of the Pulo Gadung terminal. "Even if the number is much higher than the previous year, most of the travelers were handled easily," he added.

To crack down on scalpers, the authorities have asked passengers to get directly onto buses and to pay for their tickets later.

"We have no choice," Hakim said, adding that he had told passengers to immediately report to the authorities if any bus crew members asked them to pay fares exceeding the list price. (bsr)