Travelers stranded at bus, railway stations
Travelers stranded at bus, railway stations
JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of Idul Fitri travelers were stranded at bus terminals and railway stations in the city yesterday afternoon due to the late arrival of transport.
Crowds were found at Kampung Rambutan, Pulogadung, Pasar Minggu and Grogol bus terminals and the Gambir, Senen and Jatinegara railway stations.
The masses at the terminals lessened gradually by late in the evening thanks to the remarkable cooperation among on-duty officers to help facilitate the flow of buses returning to Jakarta after dropping their passengers.
Many of the buses arrived at the terminals far behind schedule due to traffic congestion on the roads heading towards Jakarta.
Among the causes of the traffic jams was the incorrect parking and crossing of roads and intersections by motorcycles, pedicabs and livestock at many small towns in Central Jakarta.
Land Transportation Director General Soejono, who monitored the Idul Fitri routes via helicopter yesterday, asked the officers to help overcome the traffic congestion.
"Put the public interest first," Soejono instructed.
The huge number of Idul Fitri holiday makers stranded at the railway stations was mainly caused by the behavior of the passengers themselves.
At the Senen station in Central Jakarta, for instance, many of them rushed quickly to a train which had just arrived, leaving the horde of passengers wanting to disembark no room to do so.
"In such a condition, there's only one rule here: first come, first seated," said a young female employee heading to Surabaya, East Java.
"It's not an easy job to handle such a lot of low-educated people," an officer of the station told The Jakarta Post. "They never obey our rules."
Declining
By yesterday evening, the overall number of Idul Fitri travelers heading to their hometowns in Java and Sumatra was slightly lower than those recorded in the past two days.
However, the annual exodus, particularly of bus and train passengers, would increase further tomorrow and Thursday, the last days before Idul Fitri, which falls on March 3 and 4.
Seats for trains leaving form the Kota railway station in West Jakarta, for example, have already been fully booked. But dozens of scalpers were found at the station yesterday approaching travelers and offering tickets with fares almost double the usual rate.
The overall flow of traffic heading from Jakarta to the eastern parts of Java and several parts of Sumatra yesterday was slightly lower.
A number of traffic jams were recorded in a number of areas but were resolved quickly by diverting the traffic to alternative routes.
In a related development yesterday, the Tanjung Priok seaport recorded around 1,500 Idul Fitri travelers to Sulawesi and Kalimantan destinations.
Some of them rushed immediately to the state-owned MV Umsini liner, which has a capacity of 1,700 passengers, without waiting for the Jakarta bound passengers to disembark.
"I had a bad experience last year when I followed the officers advise to be patient," recalled Sjarifuddin, 41.
His berth in an eight-berth cabin, was taken by another passenger. Sjarifuddin's right to the cabin was refused despite him holding the ticket.
The vessel crew could only do nothing, he said.
"That's why I have to struggle to get my right this time," he said. (bsr)