JAKARTA, April 19 — Traffic congestion reached its peak in Java on Wednesday as people began to mudik, or travel to hometown on Tuesday — ahead of the Hari Raya (Eid al-Fitr) celebrations.
High traffic flow was reported from Jakarta into the Trans Java Highway at Cikampek Utama Toll (West Java) towards Probolinggo Toll (Surabaya), covering a distance of almost 790 kilometres.
The congestion is expected to continue until Thursday (April 20) as 18.3 million people leave the capital this year compared to just 14.3 million in 2022.
Cikampek Utama Tollway road users face congestion for almost two hours, with 138,000 vehicles expected to leave the capital today — excluding the number of vehicles from Sumatra heading to Surabaya.
Highway operator PT Jasa Marga announced that it will extend the ‘one way’ system following a drastic increase in the number of vehicles, even though many have returned to their hometown since April 16.
An increase in the number of vehicles was also reported to occur on the Trans Sumatra Highway (Sumatra) from Banda Aceh (Aceh) to Bakauheni (Lampung) — a distance of 2,508 kilometres.
Highway operator PT Hutama Karya expects the number of vehicles to increase by 35 per cent in line with the trend (of increase) experienced every year.
Across Indonesia, around 123.8 million people are expected to travel home this time — a 47 per cent jump from last year’s 85.5 million people, according to the Ministry of Transport.
Almost 75 per cent travelled via land, sea and air transport and 80,792 people enjoyed free land and sea transport provided by the ministry.
A total of 149,000 police personnel were deployed in Operation Ketupat to manage traffic, with the addition of 2,758 army personnel.
Ferry operators are busy controlling the movement of vehicles at Port Merak and Ciwandan, Banten, which connects Java with Sumatra’s Bakauheni port.
The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) provides five ships at all three ports to deal with any eventuality, and five helicopters in locations where accidents often occur. A Navy warship, KRI Banjarmasin, is provided for those who want to return home via the Tanjung Priok route in North Jakarta-Semarang-Surabaya for free.
Commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces Admiral Yudo Margono hopes that those who are in dire need of transportation will not hesitate to return home using warships.
He also did not rule out the possibility of using land or air military vehicles if needed.
— Bernama
