Prolonged weekend leads to mass exodus
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)