ID :
22045
Wed, 10/01/2008 - 01:20
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https://oananews.org//node/22045
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News Focus: REVERSE IDUL FITRI TRAVELERS` FLOWS EXPECTED AT WEEKEND By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Sept 30 (ANTARA) - The hustle and bustle of travelers going to their home towns to celebrate the post-fasting month festivity of Idul Fitri diminished on Tuesday as most of the 15.8 million travelers in the country had arrived at their destinations, one day before D-Day on Wednesday.
The traffic flow had begun to ease since Monday. The smooth traffic flow contrasted the scene on Saturday and Sunday when the flow of Idul Fitri travelers peaked and thronged bus and train stations as well as sea and airports.
Until 4 pm on Saturday, for example, four days before the post-fasting holiday, the number of home-town bound travelers from Java who had crossed the Sunda Strait to Sumatra reached about 87,000 people.
The same number of travelers also thronged the port on Sunday. Thousands of vehicles intending to cross the Sunda Strait from Java to Sumatra were trapped in a two-km-long queue before could arrive at the port.
However, one day before the D-day of the festivity, the flow of Idul Fitri travelers from Merak port on the western tip of Java to Bakauheni port on the eastern tip of Sumatra had returned to normal.
Port official Faris said the heavy flow of passengers from Bakauheni port in Lampung, Sumatra, to Merak port in Java, was no longer seen on Tuesday.
Data at the Bakauheni command post showed that the number of passengers from Merak to Bakauheni between 6 pm and 24 pm on Monday stood at 133,963 who used the services of 92 ships and 18 fast boats.
This was in contrast with the number of those traveling through Merak port on Saturday which reached 87,696 people.
On the other hand, passengers making the water-borne trip from Bakauheni to Merak numbered 34,998 passengers in 16 fast boats and 91 ferries.
The number of motorcycles which crossed the Sunda Strait from Merak to Bakauheni totaled 13,445 and private cars 7,523 units while motorcycles from Bakauheni to Merak numbered 968 and four-wheeled cars 3,671 units.
In East Java, the flow of travelers from Bali's Gilimanuk port through the Bali Strait to Ketapang port in Banyuwangi, also returned to normal on Tuesday.
"The flow of Idul Fitri travelers from Bali to East Java peaked on Sunday, September 28, 2008," Ospar Silaban, operations manager of PT ASDP (Inland Waterway Transportation Service), said.
He said there were no more long queues of vehicles on Tuesday. Cars and motorcycles could get on the ferries as soon as they had arrived at the port.
The reverse flow of travelers (from Ketapang to Gilimanuk) was also taking place smoothly, though passengers with private cars still looked crowded.
Actually, the flow of travelers crossing the Bali strait had began to slacken two days before Lebaran day.
The flow of travelers peaked on Sunday, September 28, 2008, three days before Lebaran day, when the number of passengers rose 238 percent to 30,535 with 7,646 motorcycles and 1,473 four-wheeled vehicles of various types.
Twenty-four hours earlier, the number of passengers was recorded at 45,374, of which 19,262 used motorcycles and 4,234 used four-wheeled vehicles.
"The number of passengers jumped up to 238 percent compared with the figure of a year earlier," he said.
He said the 24 ferries routinely sailing between Gilimanuk and Ketapang were continuously on standby despite the fact that the flow of passengers had returned to normal.
The same thing also happened in Madura Island. The flow of travelers from the island to mainland East Java through Kamal port in Bangkalan had returned normal and was smooth again on Tuesday.
"No more long queues of both two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles as on Monday," port official Arief said.
PT ASDP (Inland Waterway Transportation Service Company) deployed only 12 ferries of the 18 ships that had been prepared for the service.
"On Monday, all piers were packed with vehicles, although it did not create long queues," he said.
In reverse direction, namely from Madura to Surabaya, the flow of travelers looked more quiet.
In Jakarta, the usually crowded main streets had been deserted since Monday. Jl MH Thamrin, Jalan Sudirman, Medan Merdeka Selatan and other thoroughfares in the capital city looked quiet with only a few vehicles passing through.
The Pulo Gadung bus terminal in East Jakarta was on Tuesday packed with hundreds of empty inter-city buses because the number of passengers had significantly dropped.
Up to 2 pm on Tuesday only 39 buses with passengers departed from Pulo Gadung station. They got only 341 passengers. "Most seats of the buses are empty, " Pardjiman, head of the bus terminal, said.
In Indonesia, where most of its 228 million population are Muslims, the end of the Ramadhan fasting month, locally called 'Lebaran', is an important event where most urban workers and their families return to their home towns or villages to have reunions with relatives and old friends.
A reverse flow of Idul Fitri travelers is expected to occur at the weekend when the millions of people who spent the holidays in their home towns or viilages make the trip back to Jakarta and other big cities.
The traffic flow had begun to ease since Monday. The smooth traffic flow contrasted the scene on Saturday and Sunday when the flow of Idul Fitri travelers peaked and thronged bus and train stations as well as sea and airports.
Until 4 pm on Saturday, for example, four days before the post-fasting holiday, the number of home-town bound travelers from Java who had crossed the Sunda Strait to Sumatra reached about 87,000 people.
The same number of travelers also thronged the port on Sunday. Thousands of vehicles intending to cross the Sunda Strait from Java to Sumatra were trapped in a two-km-long queue before could arrive at the port.
However, one day before the D-day of the festivity, the flow of Idul Fitri travelers from Merak port on the western tip of Java to Bakauheni port on the eastern tip of Sumatra had returned to normal.
Port official Faris said the heavy flow of passengers from Bakauheni port in Lampung, Sumatra, to Merak port in Java, was no longer seen on Tuesday.
Data at the Bakauheni command post showed that the number of passengers from Merak to Bakauheni between 6 pm and 24 pm on Monday stood at 133,963 who used the services of 92 ships and 18 fast boats.
This was in contrast with the number of those traveling through Merak port on Saturday which reached 87,696 people.
On the other hand, passengers making the water-borne trip from Bakauheni to Merak numbered 34,998 passengers in 16 fast boats and 91 ferries.
The number of motorcycles which crossed the Sunda Strait from Merak to Bakauheni totaled 13,445 and private cars 7,523 units while motorcycles from Bakauheni to Merak numbered 968 and four-wheeled cars 3,671 units.
In East Java, the flow of travelers from Bali's Gilimanuk port through the Bali Strait to Ketapang port in Banyuwangi, also returned to normal on Tuesday.
"The flow of Idul Fitri travelers from Bali to East Java peaked on Sunday, September 28, 2008," Ospar Silaban, operations manager of PT ASDP (Inland Waterway Transportation Service), said.
He said there were no more long queues of vehicles on Tuesday. Cars and motorcycles could get on the ferries as soon as they had arrived at the port.
The reverse flow of travelers (from Ketapang to Gilimanuk) was also taking place smoothly, though passengers with private cars still looked crowded.
Actually, the flow of travelers crossing the Bali strait had began to slacken two days before Lebaran day.
The flow of travelers peaked on Sunday, September 28, 2008, three days before Lebaran day, when the number of passengers rose 238 percent to 30,535 with 7,646 motorcycles and 1,473 four-wheeled vehicles of various types.
Twenty-four hours earlier, the number of passengers was recorded at 45,374, of which 19,262 used motorcycles and 4,234 used four-wheeled vehicles.
"The number of passengers jumped up to 238 percent compared with the figure of a year earlier," he said.
He said the 24 ferries routinely sailing between Gilimanuk and Ketapang were continuously on standby despite the fact that the flow of passengers had returned to normal.
The same thing also happened in Madura Island. The flow of travelers from the island to mainland East Java through Kamal port in Bangkalan had returned normal and was smooth again on Tuesday.
"No more long queues of both two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles as on Monday," port official Arief said.
PT ASDP (Inland Waterway Transportation Service Company) deployed only 12 ferries of the 18 ships that had been prepared for the service.
"On Monday, all piers were packed with vehicles, although it did not create long queues," he said.
In reverse direction, namely from Madura to Surabaya, the flow of travelers looked more quiet.
In Jakarta, the usually crowded main streets had been deserted since Monday. Jl MH Thamrin, Jalan Sudirman, Medan Merdeka Selatan and other thoroughfares in the capital city looked quiet with only a few vehicles passing through.
The Pulo Gadung bus terminal in East Jakarta was on Tuesday packed with hundreds of empty inter-city buses because the number of passengers had significantly dropped.
Up to 2 pm on Tuesday only 39 buses with passengers departed from Pulo Gadung station. They got only 341 passengers. "Most seats of the buses are empty, " Pardjiman, head of the bus terminal, said.
In Indonesia, where most of its 228 million population are Muslims, the end of the Ramadhan fasting month, locally called 'Lebaran', is an important event where most urban workers and their families return to their home towns or villages to have reunions with relatives and old friends.
A reverse flow of Idul Fitri travelers is expected to occur at the weekend when the millions of people who spent the holidays in their home towns or viilages make the trip back to Jakarta and other big cities.
