T

he high volume of traffic ahead of the annual Idul Fitri exodus, also known as mudik, was unavoidable in some areas despite the government trying to anticipate congestion.

“This is absurd; I was stuck in traffic for seven hours on the East Brebes toll road,” said Tris, a homebound traveler.

Angga Danuarta, who was traveling via motorcycle, said his trip from Jakarta to Yogyakarta was disrupted by heavy rain.

He said the journey along Java’s northern coastal highway (Pantura) normally took 12 hours, but he spent 15 hours to reach Yogyakarta.

Despite having to travel a long distance in the rain, Angga said he preferred his motorcycle to other modes of transportation.

“I never feel comfortable when I take the bus to travel back to Yogyakarta. Safety and services at the terminal are not good,” Angga said.

On Sunday, National Police Traffic Corps (Korlantas) chief Brig. Gen. Agung Budi Maryoto said the worst congestion occurred near the East Brebes toll gate.

“A 20-kilometer traffic jam was seen at the Brebes toll road exit although cars were still moving slowly,” he told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

The congestion occurred because cars exiting the toll road encountered cars heading towards Pantura.

In an effort to anticipate congestion, authorities have implemented a contraflow system, opening three lanes from Jakarta while leaving one lane open from Central Java.

Police also directed vehicles from Jakarta to exit through the Kanci toll gate to minimize congestion.

“We are now directing cars from Jakarta to exit through Kanci, not through the Brebes exit anymore,” Agung said.

By diverting travelers to the Kanci exit, they would be able to use the main thoroughfare and could relax at the many restaurant options available off the toll road, he added.

Traffic jams also occurred in the Central Java towns of Tegal and Slawi, Agung added. Agung attributed the traffic to the ongoing construction of the Cipait bridge.

More congestion was observed in Nagreg, West Java, although authorities said it was not possible to implement a contraflow system in the area because the road was too narrow.

Puddle ranging from 20 centimeters to 50 cm in depth in Jl. Kaligawe, Semarang, Central Java, disrupted the flow of mudik traffic on Sunday morning after heavy rain hit the city on Saturday night.

The Public Works and Public Housing Ministry supplied 14 water pumps while the Semarang administration used 17 smaller water pumps to resolve the problem.

Besides traffic, numerous accidents have also been reported by Antara news agency. On Sunday afternoon, a bus was involved in an accident on the highway from Jakarta to Cikampek. Luckily, all passengers were unharmed and were able to continue their trip.

Meanwhile, sea transportation has also experienced a surge of homebound travelers.

“Due to the high volume of passengers from Makassar on Sulawesi to Bima on Sumbawa, Pelni is operating an additional KM Sanus 50 ENTEBE Express,” said Achmad Sujadi, Pelayaran Nasional Indonesia’s (Pelni) public relations manager.

Another Pelni boat, the Tilongkabila, was scheduled to carry a maximum of 1,643 passengers from Labuan Bajo in East Nusa Tenggara to Bima or Benoa.

Passengers who did not get a seat would be transported by the KM Sabuk Nusantara 50 ENTEBE Express, Achmad said.

At Merak Port, Banten, thousands of homebound travelers waited for hours from Friday night until early Saturday before being able to travel to Bakauheni Port in Lampung.

“I arrived around 1 p.m. but was only able to board the boat at 3:40 p.m.,” said one traveler from Bekasi.

For land transportation, it predicted that the number of passengers would decrease by 7.87 percent to 4.32 million this year from 4.6 million passengers a year earlier, although it did not specify the factors involved in the prediction. (win/wnd)