Quiet Buses, Trains and Ships: Portraits of Jakarta Residents' Movement During the 2026 Christmas-New Year Holidays

JAKARTA - The DKI Jakarta Transportation Office (Dishub) revealed a recapitulation of the 2025 Christmas and New Year 2026 (Nataru) data for the period of 18-30 December 2025. The results showed a decrease in passenger movement on land transportation modes, especially intercity buses and private vehicles.

Head of the DKI Jakarta Transportation Service Syafrin Liputo said that during the period, the number of passengers arriving at seven Jakarta terminals for interprovincial intercity buses (AKAP) was recorded at 56,729 people or down 28.07 percent compared to the 2024 Christmas period. Meanwhile, departing passengers were recorded at 77,267 people or down 9.66 percent.

"Total passengers decreased by 18.49 percent compared to the 2024 period," Syafrin said in a statement, Wednesday, December 31.

The decrease in traffic was also reflected in the volume of toll road traffic at four main gates, namely Cikampek Utama, Kalihurip Utama, Ciawi, and Cikupa. Vehicles entering Jakarta were recorded at 1,936,450 units or down 3.94 percent, while vehicles leaving Jakarta reached 2,096,857 units or down 4.13 percent compared to the same period last year.

However, regional mobility in the Jakarta border area is still relatively high. Based on data from 18 sensor points of the Cross Traffic Monitoring System (SPLL), a total of 14.29 million vehicles entered Jakarta and 15.93 million vehicles left Jakarta during the Christmas and New Year's holiday period.

Unlike land modes, sea transportation at Tanjung Priok Port actually recorded an increase in the number of passengers. During this period, 361 ships operated with a total of 191,022 passengers, consisting of 95,395 passengers boarding and 95,627 passengers disembarking.

"The most significant increase occurred in water transport to the Thousand Islands. The total passengers increased by 54.05 percent compared to the 2024 period," said Syafrin.

In detail, the number of arriving passengers increased by 48.21 percent and departing passengers increased by 61.15 percent. This condition reflects the high public interest in marine tourism destinations during the year-end holidays.

The increase also occurred on long-distance train modes. From the three main stations in Jakarta, namely Gambir Station, Pasar Senen, and Jatinegara, the total passengers during the Nataru period were recorded at 787,710 people.

The number of arriving passengers increased by 8.65 percent and departing passengers by 5.09 percent, with a total increase of 6.8 percent compared to the Christmas and New Year 2024 period.

"The highest number of departing passengers occurred on December 24, 2025, namely 38,593 passengers or an increase of 348.47 percent from the normal period," said Syafrin.

In terms of safety, the DKI Jakarta Office of Transportation also reported the results of the ramp check conducted during the period from November 11 to December 30, 2025. A total of 1,391 vehicles were inspected, with the results of 1,224 vehicles being declared not to pass the legality test.

In addition, health tests for 616 transport crew showed that 427 people were declared healthy, 148 people were healthy with notes, and 41 people were declared unhealthy.