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nticipating a massive wave of travelers in the Christmas and New Year season, the government has prepared measures to manage efficient air, sea and ground transportation for the public.

The Transportation Ministry is anticipating 17.9 million travelers will use public transportation routes this year, up 5 percent from last year, with the most-used mode being air travel.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said Tuesday that his office will cooperate with the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry to ensure more open road lanes for those traveling by car.

In addition, it will also request state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina to help supply extra fuel on the road through their “BBM Mobiles”.

“I have held intense conversations with the traffic police and toll operators so that travel management will be more efficient in this period,” Budi told a press conference.

He added that his ministry will also seek to limit the number of cargo and container trucks using the roads from Dec. 23 until Dec. 26 to help ease peak congestion.

The ministry predicts that the peak travel time will happen between Dec. 18 and Jan. 8, with the most movement to occur on Dec. 23. However, it does not expect the same number of cars that are seen during the Idul Fitri exodus in this end-of-year season.

In some areas, the ministry plans to also introduce the “odd-even” rule to limit numbers if the situation allows it.

The toll roads to be affected by the container truck ban include the Merak-Kembangan, Merak-Cikupa-Kembangan-JORR W2, Jakarta-JORR W2-Cikunir, Cawang-Jakarta-Cileunyi, Cawang-Jakarta-Bogor-Ciawi and the Jakarta-Brebes Timur, popularly dubbed the Brexit, routes.

At the infamous Brexit lanes the congestion is anticipated to extend for five to 10 kilometers, with 700 vehicles being the maximum occupying each lane.

During the Idul Fitri exodus at the end of June and early July, heavy congestion in the lane contributed to the deaths of 17 travelers from fatigue and smoke inhalation.

During Idul Fitri, many cars also ran short of gasoline after being stuck for approximately 12 hours in a 20-km queue.

“We are not anticipating as many vehicles as in the Idul Fitri season, but that doesn’t mean that our efforts will be lessened,” said the Transport Ministry’s director general for road transportation, Pudji Hartanto. He added that to cope with bottlenecks in the Brexit lanes, the ministry planned to divert some of the traffic through alternative toll gates.

The ministry’s air transport director general, Suprasetyo, said that several airports in East Indonesia will have their operational hours extended so that travelers to and from Jakarta can do their trips with more reasonable schedules.

For the season, 14 airlines will prepare a total of 498 planes that can hold 8.1 million domestic passengers and 1.8 million foreign passengers.