President Urges People to Avoid Peak Times During ‘Mudik’ Return Trips

President Joko Widodo has called on the public to return to their cities before after the peak dates, projected to occur on 6-8 May.

KOMPAS/RADITYA HELABUMI

Congestion after the Cikampek Utama Toll Gate, Purwakarta, which goes to Cikopo, Friday (29/4/2022). The volume of vehicles from Jakarta heading east continues to increase on Idul Fitri D-3.

AKARTA, KOMPAS — Mudik (exodus) travelers, especially those using private cars to travel to their hometowns to celebrate Idul Fitri, have been asked to return before or after the peak dates of mudik return journeys, which are expected to fall from Friday (6 May) to Sunday (8 May).

"To avoid a congestion and to ensure a comfortable trip, I call on and invite you, ladies and gentlemen who traveled by private vehicle, to return before or after the peak of the return [journey], of course depending on the time allowed by their respective [workplaces]," said President Joko Widodo.

The President made the call during a virtual briefing held on Tuesday (3/5) at the Agung Building at the Yogyakarta presidential palace The government has promised to do its best to organize and manage the people’s mudik return travel. Traffic management policies, such as the odd-even license plate and one-way traffic flow, will be implemented to prevent congestion. "The government will do its best so the people will feel comfortable," the President said.

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Civil servants return to work on Monday (9/5), or according to the government’s collective leave schedule. As many private companies are also following the government’s Lebaran holiday schedule, mudik return traffic is expected to peak from 6 May to 8 May.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said the President had paid special attention to handling of mudik return traffic in order to prevent heavy congestion. "If your [holiday] leave can be extended, you would do better to return after 8 May,” he said.

KOMPAS/TATANG MULYANA SINAGA

A number of cars were parked on the edge of the Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road, precisely in front of the Kilometer 57 rest area. This was done because a number of drivers did not get a parking space at the rest area.

Budi emphasized that the ministry would give serious attention to managing traffic on toll roads from Semarang, Central Java, to Jakarta, and sea routes from Bakauheni Port, Lampung, to Merak Port, Banten. For motorists using the toll roads, regional administrations, together with the police and a number of other organizations, would provide places to rest in areas off the toll roads.

"District and subdistrict offices, police stations, and other places will be used as temporary rest areas," said Budi.

Therefore, motorists who want to rest were asked not to rely on toll road rest areas to avoid creating long lines of vehicles at rest area entrances, which often caused traffic jams. Tired motorists can choose to exit at the nearest tollgate and find temporary rest areas nearby.

Regarding the risk of congestion at seaports such as Bakauheni ferry port, Budi said the ministry had made a number of preparations, such as by asking people to buy tickets online long before their planned date of departure. A number of additional piers would be opened at ports, like they were during the initial mudik travel.

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From Sumatra, Panjang Port in Lampung will be used to transport large vehicles, such as freight trucks, so Bakauheni ferry port can focus on transporting passenger cars, buses and motorcycles. Meanwhile, in Cilegon, the ports of Ciwandan and Indah Kiat will be also used to reduce sea traffic from Sumatra to Merak port in Banten.

On the second day of Idul Fitri, congestion continued to occur on a number of toll roads operated by state-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga, such as the Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road (managed by the Jasamarga Transjawa Tollroad Regional Division/JTTRD), as well as the Jagorawi and Padalarang-Cileunyi or Padaleunyi toll roads (managed by Jasamarga Metropolitan Tollroad/JMT).

The counterflow system was implemented from kilometer marker (KM) 36 of the Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road until KM 88 of the Cikopo-Palimanan Toll Road to reduce congestion. In addition, an open-close traffic system was also implemented at the Jatiasih, Jatibening, and Kalimalang entrance gates to the Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Elevated Toll Road (MBZ) to reduce congestion.

KOMPAS/PRIYOMBODO

Long queues of homecoming vehicles while waiting for their turn to enter the ferry crossing at Merak port, Cilegon, Banten, at the peak of the homecoming flow, Friday (29/4/2022) morning.

The head of marketing and communication at JTTRD, Yody Satria, said the increased traffic on the Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road on Tuesday (3/5) was due to increased city traffic as people held post-Lebaran family gatherings.

Meanwhile, the counterflow system was also implemented from KM 5 to KM 133 of the Jagorawi Toll Road headed towards Bogor and Ciawai to reduce the congestion caused by the large number of vehicles heading from the E and S sections of the Jakarta Outer Ring Road (JORR), as well as the Inner City Toll Road and Jagorawi Toll Road.

The head of marketing and communications at JMT, Irra Susiyanti, explained that traffic was relatively low on the Jagorawi Toll Road before the eve of Idul Fitri.

Traffic on the toll road began to increase again on the first and second days of Idul Fitri, likely due to an increase in people visiting their relatives in the city for post-Lebaran gatherings. "Starting today (Tuesday), traffic has increased again. This can be seen from the increased traffic flow heading to Puncak," said Irra.

The open-close traffic system was implemented at the KM 149 Gede Bage toll road exit and the Cileunyi exit from 7:21 a.m. to 6 p.m. to ease congestion on the Cileunyi national highway, which also affected the Cileunyi 2 Tollgate (GT).

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On the Padaleunyi Toll Road, access to Gede Bage-Toll Road at KM 149 heading towards Cileunyi was temporarily opened from 7:21 a.m. to 6 p.m. to reduce vehicle density on the Cileunyi national highway, which had caused congestion at the Cileunyi tollgate.

According to Irra, a number of factors had caused congestion on the Padaleunyi Toll Road during outbound mudik travel, including the implementation of the odd-even and one-way traffic policies on the Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road. Seven days prior to Idul Fitri (D-7), traffic had increased on the toll road, but it was not significant.

The increased traffic was partly due to traffic flow from Bandung. “For the traffic flow at Pasteur and Buah Batu tollgates, the congestion was caused by local traffic. On Monday (2/5), there was an increase in traffic as many people visited their relatives," she said.

According to Irra, it was projected that starting on Wednesday (4/5), mudik return travel would cause traffic to increase on the Cileunyi toll road, but it would not be significant and would still flow with the local traffic. (NAD/INA/CAS/JOG)

This article was translated by Hendaryah Tarmizi.