Peak Return Flow: Transport Minister Predicts 285,000 Vehicles to Crowd Toll Roads

Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi has predicted that 285,000 vehicles will pass through toll roads heading towards Jakarta and its surrounding areas during the peak of the Lebaran return flow on Tuesday (24/3). “Today, the return homecoming is likely to occur with an estimated number of vehicles at 285,000,” said Budi at the Kalikangkung toll gate on Tuesday. Budi explained that this number is expected to be higher than during the outbound flow on 18 March, which reached 270,000 vehicles. To anticipate this, he stated that his office is implementing an open-close policy at Rest Area KM 62B and KM 52B on the Jakarta-Cikampek (Japek) toll road. “This is done with an open-close mechanism in the hope that density does not occur, considering that during the outbound return flow yesterday there were 270 (thousand), we can see that congestion happened,” said Budi. Furthermore, Budi reiterated his call for the public to take advantage of the work-from-anywhere (WFA) policy to avoid vehicle pile-ups. “We have WFA, work from anywhere, which can be utilised by the public to plan their journeys so that not everyone is on the road today. So they can travel on other days,” he concluded.