It Is Predicted That 60.6 Million People Will Go Home For Christmas And New Year 2023

Photo by Revan Pratama on Unsplash

JAKARTA - The potential movement of people who will go home on the 2022 Christmas and 2023 New Year holidays reaches 60.6 million people.

"The potential for the national movement at Christmas/New Year 2022/2023 is 22.4 percent of the total population of Indonesia or 60.6 million people," said Director of River, Lake and Crossing Transportation of the Directorate General of Land Transportation of the Ministry of Transportation, Junaidi, Thursday, November 3.

The data is based on an internal survey conducted by the Ministry of Transportation's Transportation Policy Agency (BKT).

During the Christmas and New Year period, it is predicted that there will be a movement of people in the Jabodetabek area reaching 12.3 percent or around 7.5 million people.

He said the prediction of the peak flow of homecoming for the 2022 Christmas holiday will occur on December 24 and 25. Meanwhile, the peak of the 2023 New Year homecoming flow occurred on December 31 and January 1, 2023.

The monitoring area for crossing transportation carried out by the Ministry of Transportation is located on 11 national cross-observations, including Merak-Bakauheni, Ketapang-Gilimanuk, Padangbai-Lembar, Kayang-Potono, Sibolga-Nias, Ajibata-Ambarita, Tanjung Api-ApiTanjung Kelian, Bajoe-Kolaka, Bitung-Ternate, Hunimua-Waipriit, and Kupang-Rote.

On these 11 tracks, the Ministry of Transportation predicts that the number of passengers will reach 3.08 million people, 157 thousand two-wheeled vehicles, then 593 thousand four-wheeled vehicles.

Meanwhile, in 2019 or before the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of passengers reached 3.46 million people, 221,000 two-wheeled vehicles, and 554 thousand four-wheeled vehicles.

"In fact, the prediction of declining demand may be due to the impact of increasing fuel, adjusting tariffs, and economic and social impacts," he said.

Junaidi added that the Ministry of Transportation continues to coordinate with all stakeholders so that the implementation of Christmas and New Year's 2023 transportation can run smoothly and safely.

He said the Merak-Bakauheni cross was a benchmark for monitoring in other areas due to high traffic in the movement of people and goods during the peak of the holidays.

"Merak-Bakauheni became an extraordinary benchmark, where at the time of Eid transportation there were almost 40 thousand vehicles crossing. Scenarios needed to be done, especially the flow of vehicles from toll roads," he said.