Monday marked the official end of the Idul Fitri holidays. However, no hustle and bustle yet as the city slowly returns to its daily routine.

Jakarta currently still sports a festive holiday atmosphere, as people with extended holidays are still flocking to popular tourist attractions and the majority of the roads remain uncongested. Popular attractions such as the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta were still filled with tourists enjoying a day out with their families.

Daniel Toligi, 24, an employee at a consulting firm is still on leave this week.

“The traffic has been nice, though I noticed there are slightly more cars and motorcycles since people have started going back to work,” Daniel told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Some thoroughfares, such as Jl. Metro Pondok Indah South Jakarta, have seen low levels of traffic, in contrast to the usually packed roads.

Jakarta residents commuting on the MRT also commented on the lack of bustling passengers on the train.

Albert Huberto, 28, who works for a private company in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, saw a clear difference on his daily commute using the MRT.

Albert expressed his disbelief over the low amount of passengers on the MRT, uncharacteristic of his daily commute.

“Usually, the MRT is filled with commuters even from the first station, then it is packed when we reached somewhere between Blok M and Senayan,” Albert said.

This state of slow awakening is only expected over the next few days before Jakarta’s holiday mood dissipates and traffic returns.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said only 50 percent of motorists who had taken part in the exodus had returned to the capital city.

“The records show that as of tonight 50 percent of private cars have returned to the capital. This is recorded by the Jakarta Transportation Agency,” Anies said on Monday.

Jakarta Population and Civil Registration Agency head Dhany Sukma said, as reported by kompas.com, that according to data recorded by the administration, only 4.3 million travelers had returned out of 7.8 million Jakarta residents who traveled to their hometowns to celebrate Idul Fitri.

The atmosphere on Tuesday afternoon was still not as hectic as it was the week before Idul Fitri.

Malls around Central Jakarta areas have shown activity, but are not too crowded. The food court in Grand Indonesia shopping mall on Jl. MH Thamrin, for example, was not full at around 1 p.m.

“Until the last week before Idul Fitri, you’d have to sit on a table at Foodprint as early as 12 p.m. to get a spot in the food court,” said private employee Rangga who works at BCA Tower next to the mall. “However, when we came to eat at around 12:30 p.m. today, the food court was probably only half-full,” he said.

Jakarta’s prominent Tanah Abang Market was also still closed until Wednesday as most of the vendors joined the exodus.

“All the blocks of the market are still closed and will open again on Thursday,” said Tanah Abang Market Block A security guard Rizal.

A towel and blanket shop located in Block A was the only shop to have its gate open.

“We experienced quite an increase in sales during the Idul Fitri week compared to normal weeks. However, compared to our sales during last year’s Idul Fitri, we had a slight decrease this year,” said Yanti.

State-owned toll operator Jasa Marga reported on Monday afternoon that 59 percent of the 1.21 million vehicles that travelled out of Jakarta for Idul Fitri have returned to the capital, as quoted by kompas.com. (tru/bry)

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