Passengers flock to bus terminals, railway stations
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)