Transport Minister Predicts Peak Mudik Traffic on 16 and 18 March 2026

Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi has forecast that Lebaran 2026 mudik traffic congestion will peak on 16 March (Monday) and 18 March (Wednesday), based on results from a projection simulation of population movement for the period.

‘From our simulation results, there are two dates on which mudik congestion is expected to be at its peak—16 March, a Monday, and 18 March, a Wednesday,’ Dudy said, as quoted on Saturday 7 March 2026.

The minister explained that the government has proposed a work-from-anywhere (WFA) policy to help ease mudik congestion, and that the proposal has received the president’s approval.

He added that the policy would apply for five days during the mudik and Lebaran return period to distribute movement so that people do not crowd on specific dates.

For the mudik period, the WFA policy is planned to apply on 16 and 17 March, giving the public flexibility to travel before the peak traffic, Dudy said.

For the Lebaran return flow, the government proposes applying WFA on 25, 26 and 27 March after the Idul Fitri holidays end.

According to him, the policy aims to distribute traffic density because the number of vehicles used by the public during mudik is expected to be very large. He noted that private vehicles—cars, motorcycles and buses—remain the dominant modes of transport during the Lebaran homecoming period.

Based on the ministry’s simulation, national movement on 16 March is projected at around 21.2 million journeys. On 18 March, movements are projected to be higher, around 22 million—one of the peak points of Lebaran mudik.

With the WFA policy in place, the government hopes the movements on 16 March will fall to around 18 to 18.9 million, and on 18 March to about 15.6 million, enabling better control of mudik congestion.

Dudy explained that movement is expected to have begun increasing since Friday 13 March, initially projected at about 4.4 million journeys. After WFA is implemented, movement on 13 March is projected to rise to around eight to nearly nine million journeys, or almost doubling the initial projection.