Transport Minister and Cabinet Secretary Monitor Lebaran Return Flow at Pulo Gebang Terminal
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi, along with Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya, monitored the Lebaran 1447 Hijriah return flow at the Pulo Gebang Integrated Bus Terminal in East Jakarta to ensure it proceeded safely, orderly, and smoothly.
“Early this morning, just before 2 a.m., I was invited by Transport Minister Mr Budy Purwagandhi to check the Pulo Gebang Terminal,” said Cabinet Secretary Teddy when met at the Pulo Gebang Terminal in Jakarta on Wednesday morning.
He revealed that he had been at the site since early morning and directly observed passenger activities as well as the continuous arrival of buses carrying passengers on the return flow from various regions.
During the inspection, Teddy also interacted with many passengers to ensure their travel conditions, including directly checking the smoothness of the flow and comfort during the Lebaran return journey.
According to him, the monitoring results showed that the return flow was running smoothly without significant obstacles, and various potential impediments that arose were handled well by on-site officers.
According to Teddy, passengers met at the terminal claimed their journeys were relatively smooth, without significant hurdles throughout the trip to Jakarta during the return flow period.
“Yes, alhamdulillah, we also asked the passengers directly earlier, alhamdulillah it’s smooth and there was nothing significant along the way,” said Teddy.
“There were some slight congestions but normally at rest areas, and there were a few minor accidents, but overall alhamdulillah the peak return flow on the 24th-25th (March) went smoothly, as hoped by President (Prabowo Subianto) and all of us,” added Teddy.
He appreciated the cooperation between the Ministry of Transport and the Police in maintaining the smoothness of the return flow, so that the peak movement on 24 to 25 March could proceed as per the government’s expectations.
He explained that the first surge occurred because returnees were rushing to get back to work after the Lebaran holiday, while the subsequent wave came from people taking advantage of the work from anywhere (WFA) policy.
According to him, the government has prepared various strategies to anticipate density, including the implementation of traffic engineering such as the national one-way system to help the smoothness of the public’s return journey.
Dudy emphasised that the national one-way policy would be reimposed if there was a significant increase in density on main routes, with the aim of ensuring that the public’s journeys remain smooth and safe until they reach their destinations.
He also revealed that some people have taken advantage of the WFA policy, so the return flow movement has become more dispersed and not piled up at a certain time during the peak period.
This was evident from the traffic conditions on toll roads that were relatively not too congested, as well as the gradual movement of vehicles showing that the distribution of public travel was running more evenly and controlled.
In addition, the government is also wary of several vulnerable points such as rest areas by implementing an open-close system and limiting the operation of three-axle heavy vehicles to maintain the smoothness of the return flow.
“So our hope earlier, like implementing the national one-way, is to help the public doing the return flow to go smoothly and the most important thing is to arrive safely at their destination,” said Dudy.