Initial Tide Of Indonesia Holiday Travelers Overwhelms Java

Jakarta - One of the world’s largest annual exoduses of people kicked off in earnest on Friday, causing massive traffic jams that clogged roads throughout West Java.

There were reports on Friday evening that motorists who left Jakarta early on Thursday morning for their hometowns had only made it as far as Central Java, with the trip between the capital and Kuningan in West Java alone taking more than 16 hours — and it’s likely to get worse.

Congestion is expected to peak today because there’s a chance that Idul Fitri will begin on Sunday, a day earlier than had been predicted.

In Nagreg, West Java, known as the “southern route” for many home-bound travelers, bumper-to-bumper traffic stretched for 25 kilometers on Friday. The wall of traffic began in Rancaekek, in Bandung district, and stretched as far as Garut and Tasik.

“From west to east, it’s totally jammed and the congestion is thought to reach up to the border of Garut and Tasikmalaya,” Wahyu Diana, a transportation official of Bandung, said in Nagreg.

The volume of vehicles passing through Nagreg increased 50 percent on Friday from the previous day, he said.

On the Sukabumi route in West Java, traffic jams up to five kilometers long were seen, especially around Cicurug, Cibadak and Cisaat.

On Java’s north coast route of Kerawang, cars were also backed up for about five kilometers around the Cikampek Toll, Cikopo and Purwakarta.

“I don’t know what caused the traffic jam. I have been stuck here [on Pangulah road, Karawang] for four hours,” said Zaenal, 46, who was heading from Jakarta to Magelang in Central Java.

The situation in Banten was equally dire, with authorities at Merak Port on the western end of Java telling the Jakarta Globe that early on Friday morning, motorists were waiting at least 10 hours to board ferries. The situation was aggravated by the fact that Bakauheni Port in Lampung was only 75 percent operational.

Zailis Anas, a Bakauheni official, was quoted by state-run Antara news agency as saying that while four ferries could load and unload at Merak, only three ferries were operational on the Sumatra side at Bakauheni.

That means as the Idul Fitri exodus continue, the line of vessels waiting to dock will increase, which spells further discomfort for travelers stranded aboard the ferries waiting for their turn to dock.

Sunaryo, a bus driver, said he had been waiting for 10 hours to board a ferry to cross the Sunda Strait to southern Sumatra.

He urged concerned authorities to handle the huge traffic jams that consumed so much energy, fuel and time.

According to PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry, in the first eight hours of Friday alone, the total number of passengers passing through Merak was 83,864, with nearly 6,000 motorcycles, 8,152 private vehicles, 679 buses and 636 trucks.

The wait at Merak had been lessened somewhat by Friday evening, but officials were bracing for the rush on Saturday.

Bus stations throughout Jakarta were packed to the rafters on Friday, with as much as a 65 percent increase in passenger numbers compared to Thursday.

As of Friday afternoon, 7,000 passengers had passed through Kampung Rambutan in East Jakarta, with the majority heading for destinations across Java.

The station had prepared an additional 500 buses for overnight operations on Friday, when the volume of travelers was expected to peak. More buses would be ready for today and Sunday.

Senen train station in Central Jakarta was also reportedly packed with passengers leaving for their hometowns on Friday.

At Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, about 120,000 passengers flew out on Friday, with almost 200 flights experiencing delays as of late afternoon.

The Transportation Ministry’s traffic monitoring center reported that as of Thursday evening, more than 751,000 people across the country had taken buses and 571,000 had boarded trains. It also said around 732,000 people had traveled by sea and 307,000 by air.

Those figures are slightly down from the same period last year.

There have been 23 road accidents reported so far during this year’s exodus, up from 14 in the same period last year.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.com

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