Influx of holiday travelers less than estimated
Influx of holiday travelers less than estimated
JAKARTA (JP): The wave of travelers returning from their Idul
Fitri holidays has escalated in the city's inter-city bus
terminals and railway stations over the past two days.
However, the number remained far lower than those estimated
earlier by officials, who thought that the number of returning
travelers would peak on Sunday.
The lower than anticipated number of returning travelers was
caused by the fact that many holidaymakers whose hometowns are
far from Jakarta take an extra day to rest before returning to
the capital to resume work.
As of late yesterday afternoon, the flow of traffic heading to
the city on the Cikampek-Jakarta and Merak-Jakarta toll roads was
still far below the amount of traffic on the roads on normal
days.
Most of the vehicles were private cars with only a few buses
being seen heading towards the city.
The Jatibening tollgate, one of the toll's busy entries for
vehicles from the eastern part of Java, for example, recorded
only 37,388 vehicles on Sunday. The gate normally records an
average of 40,000 vehicles per day on ordinary days. Over 45,000
per day were recorded several days leading up to the recent Idul
Fitri, Wartono, head of the Jatibening tollgate, explained.
As of 1:30 p.m., there were not many cars queued up at the
tollgates heading into the city.
"I almost can't believe this situation," commented Col.
Muhantojo, a senior city police officer, who monitored the
traffic flow heading into the city from a helicopter.
Routes
Muhantojo, who is also head of the city police command,
control and operation center, told The Jakarta Post that the low
number of city-bound travelers might be due to the insight of the
travelers.
"They might have taken alternative roads to get away from
traffic congestion on the main highways," he said.
"Some bus drivers also dropped their passengers at other extra
terminals to avoid serious congestion at the main terminals,"
Muhantojo added.
According to Wartono, the heavy flow of travelers was
previously estimated to reach its peak on Sunday on the
assumption that business activities would resume the next day.
"But, we're wrong. I don't know where the travelers are at the
moment," Wartono told the Post at his office at Jatibening.
He, however, estimated yesterday that the wave of people
heading back to Jakarta might reach its peak period late in the
evening and early the next morning.
Despite the relative low level of influx, there was already
significant crowds at several main terminals and railway stations
in East and Central Jakarta by yesterday evening.
At the Pulogadung and Kampung Rambutan terminals, for example,
some travelers were seen failing to get public transportation due
to the limited availability of city buses.
Business
Meanwhile, tickets for Jakarta at many bus terminals and
railway stations in other major cities throughout Java had been
sold out as of yesterday afternoon.
"Even bus tickets in Magelang, Central Java, are often sold at
twice the normal rate of Rp 30,000 (US$13.63) each, it's still
hard to obtain one," Abdul Manan, a staff member of the Post,
said yesterday.
"We can see Jakartans in almost every inch of the city of
Magelang as well as Solo," said Manan, who celebrated the Idul
Fitri with his relatives in his hometown in Central Java.
In a related development, many drugstores and offices in
Jakarta were still closed yesterday.
Only a small number of personnel were seen at the City Police
Headquarters yesterday, while others left their offices before
midday.
Dozens of applicants at the driving license unit at the
headquarters failed to process their documents as the office
closed at 11 a.m. Normally the office closes at 3 p.m. on
business days.
It is estimated that all business activities will resume
normal working hours today. (bsr)