Directorate General of Land Transportation of the Transportation Ministry projects people’s movement during the 2022 Christmas and 2023 New Year holidays to reach 60.6 million.
“The potential for national movement during Christmas and New Year 2022-2023 is 22.4 percent of the total population of Indonesia, or as many as 60.6 million people,” the ministry’s director of river, lake, and crossing transportation, Junaidi, stated here, Thursday.
He conveyed the data based on an internal survey conducted by the Transportation Policy Agency (BKT) of the Ministry of Transportation.
During the Christmas and New Year period, the movement of people in the Greater Jakarta area will reach 12.3 percent, or around 7.5 million people.
Junaidi remarked that the prediction of the peak flow for the 2022 Christmas holiday homecoming would occur on December 24-25. Meanwhile, the peak of the 2023 New Year homecoming flow would occur on December 31 and January 1, 2023.
The monitoring areas for crossing transportation carried out by the Ministry of Transportation cover 11 national monitoring lines: Merak-Bakauheni, Ketapang-Gilimanuk, Padangbai-Lembar, Kayangan-Pototano, Sibolga-Nias, Ajibata-Ambarita, Tanjung Api-api-Tanjung Kelian, Bajoe -Kolaka, Bitung-Ternate, Hunimua-Waipirit, and Kupang-Rote.
On these 11 routes, the Ministry of Transportation projects the number of passengers to reach 3.08 million people, 157 thousand two-wheeled vehicles, and 593 thousand four-wheeled vehicles.
Meanwhile, in 2019 or before the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of passengers had reached 3.46 million people, 221 thousand two-wheeled vehicles, and 554 thousand four-wheeled vehicles.
“The justification for the prediction of declining demand may be due to factors affecting the increase in fuel prices, tariff adjustments, as well as economic and social impacts,” Junaidi remarked.
He reported that the Ministry of Transportation continues to coordinate with all stakeholders to ensure transportation for the 2022 Christmas and 2023 New Year occurs smoothly.
He said that the Merak-Bakauheni route was a benchmark for monitoring in other areas due to the high traffic of people and goods at the peak of the holidays.
“Merak-Bakauheni is an extraordinary benchmark, where during Eid transportation, there are almost 40 thousand vehicles crossing. We must create some scenarios, especially to handle the flow of vehicles from toll roads,” Junaidi added.
Source: Antara News