Passengers flock to bus terminals, railway stations

JAKARTA (JP): All of the city's major bus terminals and railway stations were inundated on Sunday by thousands of people anxious to travel home to celebrate the Idul Fitri holiday.

A large crowd of would-be passengers could be seen at East Jakarta's Pulogadung bus terminal, where nearly 32,000 people were forced to stay overnight on Saturday due to a shortage of buses.

Only 6,831 of the 32,000 people forced to sleep at the terminal managed to catch buses on Sunday, Sutardi, a bus terminal official, said.

He said that large numbers of people had been stranded at the terminal because of the late arrival of buses from other cities. "They were trapped in traffic jams along north coastal roads," he said.

Many buses were full upon their arrival at the terminal, having stopped to pick up passengers en route, including in Bekasi to the east of here.

"I waited here all day long only to find that all the buses arriving were full of passengers. Why have the officials here not arranged a bus schedule?" asked Sari, one of many people left disappointed by the shambolic organization.

Since Saturday, waiting crowds have surged to the terminal entrance at every sighting of a bus in a desperate attempt to be among the lucky few allowed to board. One bus even had a window broken by people seeking a quicker route to board.

Frequent appeals for patience broadcast over loud speakers at the terminal went unheeded.

One passenger expressed his frustration at the annual chaos which descends in the run up to Idul Fitri. "I think the authorities should know by now. They have had enough experience of handling the yearly exodus and they should know where things are likely to go wrong, so why has there been no improvement in the organization," said Ahmad after waiting six hours for a bus to Surabaya in East Java.

On Saturday alone, 31 extra buses were drafted in to help the 628 scheduled buses transport people stranded at the terminal. On Saturday, 32,281 passengers left Jakarta through the terminal.

"The exodus has still not peaked. Perhaps tonight," terminal official Agus S. warned on Sunday.

The number of people traveling by bus ahead of this year's Idul Fitri holiday has reportedly dropped substantially from last year.

Agus said the number of passengers who left the city between Tuesday and Saturday had dropped to 136,056 this year, from 221,376 in 1998, an overall decline of 61.46 percent.

"I think that the crisis has left many people unable to afford the bus fare home," he said.

Idul Fitri passengers leaving the city by train were believed to have reached a peak on Saturday, when around 85,000 people departed from Gambir railway station in Central Jakarta.

State Railway Company (Perumka) spokesman Halmi Azis was quoted by Antara as saying that as of 6 p.m. on Saturday night, 62,648 people had departed for West, Central and East Java by train.

By comparison, the number of train passengers on the corresponding day last year reached only 61,349, Halmi added.

He said that passengers bound for destinations in Java had so far increased by 24 percent this year to an estimated 127,806. Last year's corresponding figure over the whole festive period was 102,416.

He attributed the increase to people using executive-class trains in preference to flying, which is considerably more expensive.

Desvita, who manages an advertising company, said that she and her family were taking an executive-class train to Yogyakarta this year to save money.

"The economic crisis has hit the advertising business hard, so we have decided to take the Argo Lawu train home instead of flying," she said. (ivy/jun/ind)