Traffic toll begins Idul Fitri countdown
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
With Idul Fitri beginning on Nov. 14, the roads are crowded with holiday travelers on what should be a joyous trip, but which unfortunately sometimes ends in tragedy.
Three people died and 13 others were injured when a truck loaded with mangoes collided with a passenger bus traveling from Medan, North Sumatra, to Bandung on the Merak-Jakarta toll road at about 1 a.m. on Tuesday.
Surviving bus passengers said the truck, which was traveling in the opposite direction, hit the lane separator before crashing into the bus. The bus rolled over at least three times before coming to a halt upside down on the side of the toll road.
The fatalities were identified as Deden and Muhaimin, passengers on the bus, and Demin, one of the drivers of the truck.
The injured passengers were transported to Serang General Hospital. Most of the injured were bus passengers returning home from Medan to cities in West Java.
Although the roads are already full with holiday travelers, officials at the Senen railway station in Central Jakarta and the Pulogadung bus terminal in East Jakarta estimate that the exodus will reach its peak this Thursday and Friday.
There was little evidence at the Pulogadung bus terminal on Tuesday of the approaching holiday.
"We are providing at least 400 buses starting today. Regularly, we provide about 350 buses a day," the chairman of Pulogadung's Intercity Bus Association, Pardjiman, was quoted as saying by Detik.com.
At Gambir, the city's largest railway station, the number of passengers increased by 3 percent on Tuesday from the previous day.
"Looking at the data from last year, the number of passengers five days before the start of the holiday increased by 6 percent," said Akhmad Sujadi, head of the Jakarta operational zone for state railway operator PT KAI.
He said passenger numbers had not yet reached their peak, adding that Gambir station was beefing up its security for the holiday rush.
"Thirty police officers are deployed here," he said.