Nearly half a million motorists return to Jakarta after Idul Fitri

MUDIK LEBARAN - JAKARTA. The streets of Jakarta, empty during Idul Fitri, will soon return to normal, with all the honks and traffic jams, with almost half a million cars having returned to Jakarta since Friday, according to state-owned toll operator PT Jasa Marga.

Some 451,104 cars returned to Jakarta between Friday and Saturday, 63.53 percent higher than the average traffic rate (LHR) of 275,858 cars. 

The figure is just 37 percent of the 1.21 million cars that left Jakarta during the mudik (exodus) period, which started a week before Idul Fitri celebrations on June 5. 

“Hence there are another 765,000 motorists that have yet to make their return trip to Jakarta,” Jasa Marga head of corporate communication Irra Susiyanti said in a statement on Sunday. 

Jasa Marga also recorded that 62 percent of the cars that had returned to Jakarta had traveled from Jakarta’s east, with 22 percent coming from the west and 16 percent from the south.

As of Saturday, some 277,750 motorists had returned from the east using the Cikopo-Palimanan and Cipularang-Padaleunyi toll roads, 122.27 percent higher than the LHR. 

 “The number [of returning motorists] was only 40 percent of the 691,569 cars that used the toll roads for mudik, so there are another 413,819 cars that have yet to return,” she said. 

A total of 308,311 motorists used the Merak-Tangerang toll road to travel west from Jakarta during the mudik period, while, 216,979 cars traveled south from Jakarta on the Jagorawi toll road.

“Only 32 percent and 34 percent of the cars that traveled west and south prior to Idul Fitri have returned.” she said.