Vehicles travelling from Jombang to Nganjuk are caught in a traffic jam on March 31, 2025, the first day of Aidil Fitri, on the Bandar Kedungmulyo arterial road in Jombang Regency, East Java. - Antara
JAKARTA: The National Police predict that the peak of the return flow of this year’s Aidil Fitri exodus, known as mudik, will occur between April 5 and 7, noting that the government will prepare various strategies to anticipate traffic congestion including by implementing the contraflow traffic scheme.
“There may also be fee exemptions on certain toll roads should congestion occur,” National Police chief Gen Listyo Sigit Prabowo told a press briefing on Sunday (March 30), as reported by KompasTV.
He added that some people, or around 20 per cent of the expected mudik travellers this year, opted to return to their respective hometowns on the first day of Aidil Fitri on March 31 or the day after, so there would be a spike in traffic in certain areas.
The number of homebound travellers surged 10 days ahead of the Islamic holiday, with state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura Indonesia, which operates under the brand InJourney Airports, recording around 4.7 million passengers between March 21 and 31.
Flight traffic across 37 airports was reported at 35,103 with extra flights in all airlines managed by InJourney Airports totalling 1,529.
“InJourney Airports also ensures that there is no passenger congestion at the terminal despite high flight traffic,” InJourney Airports president director Faik Fahmi said on Monday, as quoted by Bisnis.com.
The company further estimated that 377,000 passengers would travel through its airports on Aidil Fitri, which was said to be sluggish compared to the traffic flow before the holiday, Fahmi added.
He expects the number of passengers to begin to increase on Wednesday.
In terms of road traffic, state-owned toll operator PT Jasa Marga noted 1.7 million vehicles had left the Greater Jakarta area in the 10 days leading up to the festival.
This figure is a cumulative number reported across four main toll gates, namely the Trans Java-bound Cikampek Utama toll gate, the Bandung-bound Kalihurip Utama toll gate, the Merak-bound Cikupa toll gate and the Puncak-bound Ciawi toll gate.
The total volume of traffic leaving Greater Jakarta surged by 23.2 per cent compared to normal days but marked a modest 0.4 per cent increase from the same period last year
Of the traffic leaving Greater Jakarta, around 55.4 per cent headed East toward the Trans Java toll road and Bandung, followed by 25.5 per cent travelling West to Merak and 19.1 per cent heading South to Puncak.
The Transportation Ministry predicts that some 146 million people will participate in mudik this year, a 23 per cent drop from last year’s prediction of 193 million people, which is believed to be caused by the bleak economic climate amid job uncertainty and the government’s sweeping austerity measures. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
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