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Indonesians on the move as 'mudik' season almost in full swing
With Idul Fitri less than a week away, the government has reported a spike in the number of Indonesians on the move, particularly using modes of public transportation, as the country’s biggest mudik (exodus) season yet is almost in full swing.
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Vehicles line up bumper-to-bumper in April 2022 at a tollgate in Karawang, West Java, as people return to their hometowns to celebrate Idul Fitri, which fell on May 2 and 3 last year. (Reuters/Yuddy Cahya Budiman)
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ith Idul Fitri less than a week away, the government has reported a spike in the number of Indonesians on the move, particularly using modes of public transportation, as the country’s biggest mudik (exodus) season yet is almost in full swing.
Transportation Ministry spokeswoman Adita Irawati said in a statement on Sunday that over 586,000 Indonesians had started to embark on their homebound journeys on Saturday, or seven days before Idul Fitri.
The figure was 20,000 more than Friday’s tally of 565,000 people, and over 54,000 more than last year’s tally. The ministry’s data was compiled across 111 bus terminals, 16 ferry ports, 51 airports, 110 seaports, 13 train operational regions (Daop), 42 toll gates and 20 arterial roads across the country.
"The highest number of passengers on [seven days before Idul Fitri] was from air transportation, or around 231,952 passengers. The figure is 39.56 percent of the total number of public transport users across all modes," Adita said.
She added that some 147,000 cars had left the Greater Jakarta area on Saturday, consisting of 54,000 cars leaving through arterial roads, or over 50 percent increase in car volume compared with a regular day, and 92,000 cars leaving through toll roads, or around a 30 percent decrease compared with a regular day.
“With there being no increase in the flow of vehicles leaving [the Greater Jakarta area] via toll roads [as of Saturday], we encourage people who are already on holiday to go mudik earlier […] while the roads are still not too congested,” Adita said, adding that the ministry expects the peak of mudik flow on toll roads to happen from April 18 to 21.
Also on Monday, thousands of Jakarta residents gathered at the National Monument (Monas) complex in Central Jakarta to begin embarking on their homebound journeys. Some 284 buses departed Monas on Monday, carrying around 13,000 people to West Java, Central Java, East Java and Sumatra, Kompas.id reported.
