Toll road sees drop-off in usage

JAKARTA (JP): The volume of traffic along the 72 km Jakarta- Cikampek toll road has dropped 10 percent to 30 percent since the beginning of the economic crisis in July last year.

The drop has resulted in a significant decline of toll revenue collected by state-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga, a company official said on Monday.

The manager of the Cikampek tollgate, Abubakar Langhake, said the company's tollgate at Cikopo, for example, was taking in an average Rp 90 million per day, compared to the precrisis figure of Rp 100 million a day.

He said the decline was mainly due to a drop-off of commercial vehicles on the toll road. More vehicles, he said, were probably taking alternative roads which were free.

The declining number of automobiles roaring along the highway, which connects the capital to other major cities in West, Central and East Java, has also been seen on weekends and holidays.

"Normally, at least 17,000 cars pass through the Cikampek tollgate on weekends and holidays. Now the figure has dropped to only some 15,000 vehicles a day," Abubakar was quoted by Antara as saying.

The sluggish business has also affected street vendors who sell food, drinks and fruit near the tollgate.

Only dozens of vendors tout their wares along the road, whereas before their number had been as high as 200.

"Previously, we could earn an average of Rp 15,000 a day but now we're working all day until midnight to get just half of that," said Suhandi, a fruit trader. (bsr)