Prolonged weekend leads to mass exodus
JAKARTA (JP): The presidential decree declaring Nov. 14 and Nov. 15 public holidays for all government and private sector offices, as well as schools, in Jakarta has sparked a mass exodus from Jakarta to other cities and even other countries.
Presidential Decree No. 74/1994, signed by President Soeharto on Nov. 7, stated that the gathering of the 18 leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and their activities in Jakarta and Bogor on those two days will likely cause "extraordinary traffic congestions" that will "inconvenience" the public.
Responding to the government decision, hundreds of thousands of Jakartans have booked airline and train seats to go to their favorite holiday destinations such as Bali, Yogyakarta, Solo and Bandung as well as Singapore and Sydney.
Ticket reservations department official of the national flag carrier, Garuda Indonesia, Agus Eko Putranto said on Saturday that air tickets for Singapore, Bali, Yogyakarta and Solo for Saturday were already fully booked.
The number of booked tickets jumped from those registered on earlier days, he said.
Agus said that on Saturday Garuda has four flights to Singapore, of which two flights use the Air Bus-600 aircraft with a capacity of 225 seats, while the other two flights use the DC- 10 aircraft with 272 seats each.
He said all seven flights for Saturday to Yogyakarta are served using Boeing 737-600 aircraft with a capacity of 104 seats.
Agus said Garuda served eight flights to Bali on Saturday with a combined capacity of 2,068 seats while those to Solo, Central Java, had 312 seats.
He said there are four other domestic destinations such as Surabaya, East Java; Medan, North Sumatera; Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi and Manado, North Sulawesi. Tickets to all those destination were nearly fully booked by city dwellers.
Agus said Garuda's seats for two cities in Australia, Sydney and Perth, were also nearly full.
An official of the ticket sales department in Gambir train station, Central Jakarta, Amat Sukur Basuki said tickets for the Parahyangan train, plying the Bandung-Jakarta route, have been booked until Nov. 14.
"As Parahyangan's seats have been booked until Nov. 14, we are selling tickets for standing passengers only," he said.
Booked
An official of the ticket sales department in Kota train station, West Jakarta, Bambang Budiono said tickets for the Bima and Mutiara trains, plying the Surabaya-Jakarta routes, have been booked until Nov. 14.
Kompas daily reported on Friday that the number of Jakartans going out of town last weekend were estimated at two million.
An employee of PT Carnation Tour and Travel, a travel agent in Jakarta, Restu Asdrianti, said the demand for train and airline tickets for Bali, Yogyakarta, Solo, Semarang and Bandung has risen sharply since Nov. 11.
"All of them were sold out, there is nothing left," she said, adding that most people who booked the train and air seats from the company were accompanied with return tickets.
"Most travelers are scheduled to come back on Nov. 15," Restu said.
Chief of Jagorawi toll road, Adityawarman, predicted the number of motorists who will use the Jagorawi toll road will not be as many as those on usual holidays.
He predicted that motorists will avoid the roads as was urged by Bogor Police chief Col. Syahrudin Z.P. (mas)