Transportation Ministry Prepares Measures to Handle Arus Balik Peak Traffic
Vehicle inspection. Photo by: Ministry of Transportation.
Ministry of Transportation has prepared measures to handle the peak of arus balik (return traffic after Eid al-Fitr annual exodus) which is predicted to occur between 30 May 2020 and 1 June 2020.
“We work with relevant stakeholders to make necessary measures to anticipate potential return traffic. The measures are based on Regulation of Ministry of Transportation Number 25 of 2020, Circular of COVID-19 National Task Force Number 5 of 2020, and Regulation of Jakarta Governor Number 47 of 2020. Our focus is monitoring the potential for peak of return traffic, especially with land transportation,” spokesperson of Ministry of Transportation Adita Irawati said in Jakarta, Friday (29/5).
Ministry of Transportation predicts that there will be 284,892 cars and 814,835 motorbikes in the return traffic of 2020 (starting from 26 May 2020 up to 31 May 2020), while in the 2019 return traffic, there were 2,260,859 cars and 554,488 motorbikes.
“From the prediction, the number of cars will decrease significantly compared to those of last year while the number of motorbikes will increase significantly,” Adita said.
Ministry of Transportation through the Directorate General of Land Transportation has coordinated intensively with relevant stakeholders, including Ministry of Health, the Indonesian National Police (Polri), the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI), regional governments, COVID-19 National Task Force, and other stakeholders, in carrying out vehicle inspections at the check point located in a number of roads, including side roads.
“The check points are established on the main roads to Jakarta from several regions, including East Java, Central Java, West Java, Banten, and side roads,” Adita said.
Eleven special check points are also available to check the entry and exit permit (SIKM), including in Tangerang Regency (Syekh Nawawi Street, Cikupa Toll Gate, Serang Main Street, Maja Main Street), in Bogor Regency (Jasinga Street, Ciawi-Cianjur Street, Ciawi-Sukabumi Street, Tanjung Sari Main Street), in Bekasi Regency (Pantura Main Street, Kalimalang Inspection Road, and Cikarang Toll Road Section Km 47 towards Jakarta).
The Ministry of Transportation also works with other stakeholders to conduct inspection in terminals, ports, airports and train stations, to ensure that people who are traveling are those who meet the criteria and conditions stipulated by the COVID-19 Task Force and has obtained the entry and exit permit (SIKM) for people traveling to and from Jakarta.
Based on the monitoring at the Pulogebang Terminal from 9 May 2020 to 24 May 2020, there are 80 buses departing from the Terminal (with 645 passengers) and 43 buses arriving at the Terminal (with 206 passengers), while the number of passengers who were rejected were 152 passengers.
Compared to the same period in the previous year and on normal days, the average number of buses and passengers of buses in Pulogebang Terminal is significantly lower, with only 5 buses per day and 41 passengers per day, while on Eid Al-Fitr 2019 the average were 250 buses per day and 9000 passengers per day and on a normal day the average is 150 buses per day and 2000 passengers per day.
The monitoring is also carried out at the crossing between Merak-Bakauheni, Ketapang-Gilimanuk and Padang Bai-Lembar. The ports reported a significant decrease in the number of passengers and vehicles carrying passengers.
The number of passengers at the Merak-Bakauheni port continued to decline, with 1.3 million passengers in February, 1.2 million passengers in March, 572,000 passengers in April, and 191,000 passengers in May.
It was also reported that there was no surge in Extraordinary Train (KLB) passengers. As of today, the level of occupancy of KLB passenger seats for routes of Gambir-Cirebon-Semarang-Surabaya, Gambir-Yogyakarta-Madiun-Surabaya and Bandung-Yogyakarta-Madiun-Surabaya on 30 and 31 May 2020 were only 44 percent.
The Directorate General of Railways of Ministry of Transportation is working with stakeholders in train station to ensure that the inspection of passengers’ documents run smoothly and to ensure the services of the train comply with health protocol. (Ministry of Transportation/EN)
Translated by: Ridwan Ibadurrohman
Reviewed by: Mia Medyana
