H

undreds of thousands of Jakartans are set to return to their hometowns on public buses to celebrate the Idul Fitri holiday that is expected to fall around the middle of July.

However, to date, the city administration'€™s ambitious Pulo Gebang Terminal in East Jakarta is still not ready to serve passengers and almost no public bus drivers are willing to enter the newly renovated terminal.

As of 3 p.m. on Monday, the terminal saw no passengers getting off or waiting for buses. Meanwhile, dozens of red public minivans parked in the area to wait for passengers. Most of the drivers slept inside their vehicles, played cards or polished their gemstones.

'€œWe are waiting inside the terminal because the Transportation Agency officers have ordered us to do so. However, there are no passengers in sight, so we just wait for our turn to get out and pick up passengers from outside the terminal,'€ Asli Sulardi, one of the drivers, told The Jakarta Post.

Besides public minivans, Asli said intercity and inter-provincial buses had been ordered to enter the terminal. However, he said that he had not seen any of the bus drivers following the order during the past few weeks.

'€œIf only all of the buses entered this terminal, there might be a lot of passengers for us,'€ he said, adding that most of the buses preferred to go to the crowded and chaotic Pulo Gadung Terminal that was located a few kilometers away.

Touted as the biggest terminal in Southeast Asia, the Rp 448 billion (US$34 million) Pulo Gebang terminal was designed to become a hub that would connect with other terminals in the capital and serve thousands of passengers on a daily basis.

However, the reality is far from the expectation.

Hundreds of chairs in the waiting room were empty, leaving a number of LED televisions switched on without any viewers, while several personnel from the Transportation Agency and security officers walked around aimlessly on the quiet first floor.

Several Metro Mini buses passed through the facility and left without dropping off or picking up any passengers.

'€œIt'€™s very quiet here. It'€™s almost like a ghost terminal,'€ said Giri Pangai, a Metro Mini driver.

Separately, Transportation Agency head of the land transportation division Emanuel Kristianto said that the agency was still waiting for an operational permit from the Transportation Ministry.

He said that Pulo Gebang had been prepared as a supporting terminal for this year'€™s exodus or mudik.

The administration has prepared 12 bus terminals for the upcoming exodus. The main terminals are Kampung Rambutan and Pulo Gadung terminals in East Jakarta as well as the Kalideres Terminal in West Jakarta. The supporting terminals are Tanjung Priok and Tanah Merdeka in North Jakarta, Muara Angke, Grogol and Rawa Buaya in West Jakarta, Pasar Minggu in South Jakarta and Rawamangun, Pinang Ranti and Pulo Gebang.

Emanuel said that there would be 7,923 buses to serve home bound passengers.