Prediction Of 123.8 Million People Homecoming For Eid 2023, The Minister Of Transportation Asks For Potential Traffic Jams To Be Anticipated Since Early Childhood

Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi attended a coordination meeting to prepare for the security of the Eid homecoming, at the Jasa Marga Office KM 70B Cikampek Utama Toll Gate, Karawang, Sunday. (ANTARA)

The Minister of Transportation (Menhub) Budi Karya Sumadi said that the preparation for security and congestion points for this year's Eid homecoming was carried out early, so that the shortage could be immediately corrected. The number of potential people's movement during this year's Eid homecoming season reached 123.8 million people.

"We are preparing (homecoming security) from an early age. So that we can be even more prepared, and still have time to fix the shortcomings that still exist," said the Minister of Transportation during a coordination meeting at the Jasa Marga Office KM 70B Cikampek Utama Toll Gate, quoted by ANTARA, Sunday, March 19.

He said the coordination meeting discussed steps to anticipate the surge in vehicle movements during the homecoming season on the Jakarta toll road towards Cikampek, Cipali, to Semarang.

He said the potential number of people moving during this year's Eid homecoming season reached 123.8 million people.

From the potential movement of the community, users of four-wheeled private vehicles are the highest choice, which is predicted to reach 27.32 million people, or 22.7 percent of the total movement.

Jasa Marga predicts that the number of vehicles that will pass at the four main toll gates (Cikupa, Ciawi, Cikampek Utama and Kalihurip Utama) this year's Eid homecoming season will be higher than the 2022 Eid homecoming period.

It is predicted that the number of vehicles leaving Jabodetabek will reach 2.2 million vehicles, an increase of 2.8 percent and those entering Jabodetabek will reach 2.3 million vehicles, an increase of 1.4 percent compared to the Eid homecoming season in 2022.

The Minister of Transportation said, judging from the high prediction of a surge in vehicles on the toll road towards Semarang, his party will continue to coordinate intensively with the Korlantas Polri, the Ministry of PUPR, the Toll Road Management Agency, Jasa Marga, and other related elements, to prepare traffic engineering management.

Traffic engineering can be in the form of contra flow, one way, restrictions on goods transportation and so on.

"We are working together as a team and are preparing various things, including a Joint Decree (SKB) to determine the time for traffic engineering, the implementation of which will be carried out by the Korlantas Polri," said the Minister of Transportation.

Furthermore, other efforts are being made to add and improve road infrastructure facilities such as, repair and widening roads, adding rest areas, adding road markings, and other road facilities.

In addition to preparing traffic engineering and improving road facilities, the Minister of Transportation appealed to the public to use four-wheeled private vehicles to arrange travel times properly, so that the homecoming trip is more comfortable.

"Select the homecoming time earlier, and avoid the peak time of homecoming and return flow. So it is hoped that the spread of vehicle movements will be more evenly distributed and there will be no peak spike on a certain day which is very high," he said.

Meanwhile, at the coordination meeting, the Director General of Land Transportation Hendro Sugianto, Kakorlantas Polri Firman Santhyabudi, Director of Jasa Marga Surbakti Syukur, Secretary of the Toll Road Regulatory Agency (BPJT) Triono Junoasmo, Dirlantas Polda Jabar, and a number of toll road operators.