Jasa Marga Predicts The Peak Backflow Of Christmas-New Year On January 1, 2024

The atmosphere of traffic flow at the Cikampek Utama Toll Gate (GT). BETWEEN/HO-Jasa Marga

JAKARTA - PT Jasa Marga (Persero) Tbk predicts that the peak backflow of the 2023 Christmas and 2024 New Year holidays will occur on Monday 1 January 2024.

"The majority of vehicles returning to Jabotabek will come from the east (trans Java direction) which is predicted to reach 140 thousand vehicles, an increase of 28 percent from the peak of the 2022 Christmas and 2023 New Year homecoming flows of 110 thousand vehicles," said Jasa Marga's Corporate Communication and Community Development Group Head Lisye Octaviana as reported by ANTARA, Friday, December 29.

The number of vehicles originating from the east is also 58 percent of the number of vehicles returning to Jabotabek which is predicted to reach 240 thousand vehicles, an increase of 19 percent for Christmas-New Year 2022/2023 and an increase of 75 percent for normal traffic (traffic).

The total number of vehicles returning to Jabotabek is the cumulative traffic flow from the four Barrier / Main toll gates (GT), namely GT Cikupa (from the direction of Merak), GT Ciawi (from the direction of Puncak), GT Cikampek Utama (from the direction of Trans Java), and GT Kalihurip Utama (from the direction of Bandung).

Lisye explained that the peak of the return flow from the east (trans Java direction) which is predicted to reach 140 thousand vehicles, is also calculated based on the high realization of the peak of this year's new Christmas homecoming flow which occurs on D-2 Christmas 2023 or on Saturday, December 23, 2023, amounting to 134 thousand vehicles, up 34 percent to the peak of the 2022 Christmas homecoming flow.

Previously, Jasa Marga recorded 1.9 million vehicles leaving the Jabotabek area on the 2023 Christmas Holiday (18 to 28 December 2023). This number increased by 25 percent when compared to normal traffic (1.5 million vehicles) in the same period. When compared to the 2022 Christmas period, this total traffic volume increased by 7 percent (1.79 million vehicles)," he said.

Lisye also explained that with the spike, the location that was the focus of attention to anticipate was at Km 66 of the Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road or a vehicle meeting from Bandung and Cikampek to Jakarta.

"In addition, there is potential for congestion in several locations of the Trans Java toll road from Semarang to Jakarta, especially at traffic node meeting points, arterial road exit access and several rest area locations. Therefore, Jasa Marga cooperates with the Police and other authorized agencies to carry out traffic engineering in anticipating congestion at that location," he said.

He also appealed to and asked for cooperation from road users, especially those passing through the Trans Java Toll Road, to be able to arrange the travel time back to Jabotabek to make it more comfortable and not pile up on the dates that are predicted to be the peak of backflow and in order to maintain travel time from Semarang to Jakarta, which is less than 7 hours or an average speed of 60 to 70 km/hour.

Dari pulang bersamaan di hari Senin dan Selasa, 1 dan 2 Januari 2024. Bagi pengguna jalan yang masih diberikan kelebisan untuk melanjutkan periode mudiknya, dapat melimpir perjalanan dengan pilihan hari Sabtu-Sungu, 30-31 Desember 2023 maupun Rabu, 3 Januari 2024. Khusus di hari Rabu, 3 Januari 2024, pengguna jalan dapat sekaligus memanfaat cutang tariff tol sebesar 10 persen yang akan berlaku di Jalan Tol Trans Jawa untuk perjalanan berlakang balik dari Semarang menuju Jakarta (GT Kalikang menuju GT Cikampek Utama) ujar Lisye.