Returning Holiday Travelers Hit the Road

As many as 8,693 passengers boarded their trains from Pasar Senen Station, where 2,919 passengers disembarked. The large number of passengers leaving Jakarta congested the stations.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

The police directed private vehicles to undergo a random check for antigen rapid tests during the Ketupat Jaya 2021 Centralized Police Operation at the Cikampek KM 34 B Toll, Cibatu, Bekasi Regency, West Java, Minguu (16/5/2021).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — As mudik (exodus) travelers are making their way back to the capital city, regional authorities now have to cope with a second wave of travelers after the mudik ban ended on May 17.

A large number of people have opted for a post-ban trip to their hometowns to avoid the prospect of being turned back at checkpoints.

The persistent mobility of travelers has caused concerns about Covid-19 transmission. Big cities in Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi ramped up random swab tests for the arriving travelers on Tuesday (18/5/2021).

The return wave of the holiday exodus saw people swamp railway stations and bus terminals in Jakarta and Tangerang, Banten. The number of long-distance train passengers leaving Jakarta is back on the rise, exceeding even that of arrivals.

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On Tuesday, Gambir Station dispatched a total of 20 trains carrying 3,693 passengers, which compares to 13 arriving trains with 3,286 passengers.

As many as 8,693 passengers boarded their trains from Pasar Senen Station, where 2,919 passengers disembarked. The trains serve commuters between Jakarta and Bandung, Cirebon, Central Java, Yogyakarta, and East Java.

The large number of passengers leaving Jakarta congested the stations.

Andika (34), who embarked from Senen Station, had to wait for several days after Lebaran before departing to his village in Bojonegoro, East Java. "My office complied with the government [rules] by prohibiting its employees from going home. Now I have leave and am using it to go to my hometown,” he said.

Crowds of people were also seen at the Poris Plawad bus terminal in Tangerang, with passengers waiting for buses to take them to towns in Central Java, East Java and Sumatra.

Indra (40), a street vendor from Padang, West Sumatra, made the trip with his wife and two children. He said they could not go home last year. "This time around, we had to wait for the ban period to end. We plan to spend 15 days in our village, "he said.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

Inter-provincial intercity bus (AKAP) passengers fill out a form before undergoing a rapid antigen test at the Pulo Gebang Integrated Terminal in East Jakarta, Tuesday (18/5/2021).

Bus terminal head Alwien Athena Alwie said it was difficult to assess the extent of returning passengers at the terminal, because the buses arrived at the terminal at midnight. "Most of the passengers did not get off at the terminal but on the street near their homes," he said.Random tests

Regional authorities have intensified random swab testing for the homecoming residents. In Cirebon, West Java, 5,000 antigen test kits have been prepared for travelers as well as visitors at public centers.

In Aceh, random tests are becoming urgent because of an increase in Covid-19 cases, which have increased almost every day in the last two weeks. The province has recorded a total of 12,340 cases with 499 deaths.

In Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Mayor Edi Rusdi Kamtono said the authorities expected to take 1,000 residents for antigen swab tests per week, while in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, the local government relies on strict screening and random tests at checkpoints to tackle the risk of virus transmission from travelers.

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In Surabaya, East Java, two migrant workers from Jember and Sampang who had returned from Malaysia were found to have contracted the new variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The Covid-19 case number in North Sumatra is also increasingly worrying. A total of 30,632 cases have been reported in the province, or 6.6 percent of the tested samples, with the bed occupancy rate for quarantine reaching 61 percent. Despite the rising cases, a number of public places in Medan and Deli Serdang are still crowded with visitors.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

The police directed motorbike travelers to undergo a rapid antigen test in backflow blocking on Jalan Rengas Bandung, Tanjungbaru Village, Cikarang Timur District, Bekasi Regency, West Java, Monday (17/5/2021).

North Sumatra Governor Edy Rahmayadi has banned the operation public attractions for next two weeks and limited the operational hours and capacity of public premises. (IDO/ESA/JAL/RAM/AIN/IKI/DAN/NSA/JUM/BRO/ZAK/ERK/HLN/ETA)

(This article was translated by Musthofid).