Toll firm snagged Rp 13.9 billion during Idul Fitri holidays
Toll firm snagged Rp 13.9 billion during Idul Fitri holidays
JAKARTA (JP): The recent Idul Fitri was particularly joyous
for PT Jasa Marga, the state-owned toll company, which recorded
Rp 13.9 billion (US$6.6 million) gross revenue on the surge of
travel in the greater Jakarta area around the holiday.
Judi Saragih, a spokesman for the company, said over the
weekend almost 10 million cars rode Jakarta's toll roads in the
two weeks book-ending the holiday, forcing the company to re-
schedule their employees working hours.
"We had to re-schedule the working time of our employees
because we have no part-timers," the spokesman said, adding that
the company deployed 442 employees equipped with 56 operational
cars, 14 ambulances and two reserved buses in anticipating the
seasonal increase in the number of vehicles taking toll roads.
"We didn't use the reserve buses at all, meaning that there
were no public buses or other public vehicles which had serious
problems on the toll roads," he noted.
The Jakarta-Cikampek highway, which serves as the main route
to Central and East Java, was the big breadwinner for the company
with Rp 4.8 billion in tolls, Jagorawi toll road was second with
Rp 3.8 billion, the Cawang-Tomang-Cengkareng (intra-urban)
highway third with Rp 3.1 billion and the Jakarta-Merak highway
in fourth place with Rp 2.2 billion.
In anticipation of the increase of the seasonal travelers,
Saragih said the company worked with the police, who sent 300
policemen and deployed 24 police cars and one helicopter.
"The helicopter was only for emergencies, but
it remained idle during Idul Fitri because all the accidents
could be handled without it," Saragih said.
During the two-week period, the company recorded as many as 62
accidents in the Greater Jakarta area in which 18 people were
killed and 72 injured.
The highest rate of accidents occurred at the Jakarta-Cikampek
toll road with 25, followed by the Jagorawi highway with 17
cases, then the Jakarta-Merak highway with 10 accidents and the
intra-urban highway with 10 cases.
Rita Rosita, another company spokesman, blamed
human error for the accidents.
"The drivers might have been very tired but they still forced
themselves to continue driving in order to reach their
destinations as scheduled, or maybe they did not pay attention to
the traffic signs," Rosita said.(11)