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Government reports across the board improvements for this year’s 'mudik'
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Homebound travelers walk to buses parked near the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta for the first day of the city administration’s free 'mudik' (exodus) program on April 17. The administration is providing 284 buses to serve 13,541 people traveling to 19 cities and regencies in Java and Sumatra. ( Antara/Aprillio Akbar)
T
his year's Idul Fitri mudik (exodus) season saw improvements across the board in terms of traffic management compared to last year, with quicker average travel time and fewer reported incidents, authorities said.
The Transportation Ministry recorded the average travel time in this year’s mudik season to stand at six hours and four minutes, marking a 14-percent improvement from last year. The return flow traffic showed similar improvements, with an average travel time of five hours and 47 minutes, 17.5 percent quicker than last year.
“Thankfully, we were able to carry out [President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo’s] mandate in maintaining the safety of this year’s mudik," Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said on Tuesday.
Separately, state-owned insurance company PT Jasa Raharja confirmed the company was seeing fewer traffic incidents in 2023 compared to last year.
“In 2022, we recorded 7,633 traffic incidents with 1,121 casualties. So far this year, we’ve only seen 5,894 incidents [and 726 casualties],” Jasa Raharja spokesperson Munadi Herlambang said in a press release on Monday. While the data is only up to date until April 28, Munadi expected the final figure to still be considerably lower than last year.
Budi chalked the success up to the continued improvements in the ministry’s Idul Fitri mudik season command center, despite higher traffic levels. The command center, which began operations on April 14, was finally shuttered on Tuesday as the last of the mudik travelers finished their return trip on Sunday.
In line with earlier predictions, the ministry recorded around 3.9 million vehicles participating in this year’s mudik season, or 6.1 percent higher than last year’s traffic volume. With this year’s Idul Fitri being the first since 2020 to be conducted without COVID-19 restrictions, the government has been bracing for record-breaking traffic for the 2023 mudik season.
