IDUL FITRI TRAVELERS BEGIN TO FLOCK AT PORTS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Sept 5 (ANTARA) - Transportation and ferry port operators throughout the country are busy these days, at least until the next two weeks, in the face of high mobility of homeward post-fasting Idul Fitri holiday travelers.          Five days ahead of the Idul Fitri D-Day next Friday, millions of people in various parts of the country began flocking at seaports on Sunday to leave for their home towns for Idul Fitri (Lebaran) festivities.          Increased activities were seen early on Sunday at Merak and Bakauheni, two of the  busiest ferry ports in the country, which linked travelers from Java to Sumatra or vice versa. Others were Gilimanuk and Ketapang which connect Java and the tourist resort island of Bali.         The ferry port of Bakauheni in Lampung recorded 29,806 ferry passengers.           Operational Manager of inland waterway transport service PT ASDP, Zailis Anas, said the 29,806 figure indicated a drastic increase compared with the previous on Friday.           He said that most of the passengers were passengers traveling on private and public vehicles. Of the 29,806, a total of 26,839 were passengers on vehicles and the remaining 2,847 were passengers in persons.           The number of various types of vehicles also experienced an increase from 4,136 units to 4,989 units. During the D-Day minus six, the company put into operations 24 roll-on roll-off (roro) ferries with 89 trips.          Data showed that the number of passengers from Bakauheni to Merak on  Saturday was recorded at 29.08 while that of vehicles of various types reached 4,989 units.          On Friday, the number of passengers reached 26,634 and various types of vehicles at 4,136 units, he said.  "We have also increased the number of roro (roll in/roll out) ferries from 21 to 24," he added.          The ferry port of Merak in the western tip of Java has predicted a 21 increase in Idul Fitri travelers this year. "Looking at passenger data last year, we believe that the number of Idul Fitri travelers this year will increase," Head of PT ASDP for Merak, Teja Suparna said.          He said that based on the increase prediction, his side continued to monitor it for fear of a jump-up in the flow of both passengers in vehicles and passengers in persons.          PT ASDP, he said, has predicted that the number of passengers and vehicles would begin to increase beginning from the D-Day minus five (five days before the Idul Fitri holidays) up to the D-Day minus one.          He said that at present the number of passengers reached 65,000 while that of two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles (both private cars and trucks) reached 12,500 units.         With the data,  the flow of Idul Fitri travelers would increase to 21 percent this year.          In the meantime, Idul Fitri travelers arriving at Ketapang port of East Java from Bali's Gilimanuk mostly used motorcycles.           Data at PT ASDP for Ketapang showed that until 00.00 on Sunday, a total of 10,145 vehicles from Gilimanuk had arrived at the port, up 300 percent from 3,881 in the same period in 2009.  The increase in the number of travelers using motorcycles was due to the fact that revelers were willing to have their own transportation facility during their trips and holidays in their home towns.          Saiful who was traveling to Ciamis, West Java, said he and his wife and kids were prepared to travel a long trip on a motorcycle so that would be able to save money and have transportation facility during their holidays in their home town.          "We do not want to disturb our relatives there so we travel with our motorcycle. If we are tired we can take a rest in a special place already prepared a long the way toward Ciamis," Saiful said.          Increased flow of passengers also takes place.  East Nusa Tenggara (NTT)'s Eltari airport even predicted an increase of about 10 - 12 percent in the flow of passengers during Idul Fitri holidays.          Technical and Operational Manager of airport operator firm PT Angkasa Pura I, I Komang Sudiarta, said that the prediction  was based on data recorded over the past five years from 2005 to 2009.          "There must be an increase, but we do not yet know the exact percentage before we arrive at the D-Day plus seven or seven days after the Idul Fitri holdidays," he said.          Sudiarta said that in 2005 the number of passengers flying through the airport during the period of D-Day minus seven and D-Day plus seven was recorded at 8,258, or about 516.13 per day.          In the same period in 2006 it was recorded at 11,856, or an average of 741 per day, in 2007 it stood at 12,596 or about 787.25 per day, in 2008 there were 15,348 or an average of 959.25 per day and in 2009 it increased to 20,071 or 1254.44 per day.          The same is also true to the airport in Ambon of Maluku province. The flow of passengers at Pattimura airport increased 25.21 percent on Saturday, six days before Idul Fitri. Leo Sahertian of the airport operator firm Angkasa Pura I said that from 6 am to 4 pm local time on Saturday the number of passengers was recorded at 1,063, an increase from 846 recorded in the previous year.          He said that the increase was boosted by additional flights from Ambon to other cities. Usually, Ambon is catered with 10 airplanes and 12 flights daily but this year there are 14 airplanes with 14 routes.          In Kalimantan, hundreds of Idul Fitri travelers packed Samarinda. The passengers, who came from several cities/districts in East Kalimantan, continued to flow and embarked on a ship that had moored at the pier of Samarinda seaport. "They embarked on Peratai Prima II ship which would take them to Parepare, South Sulawesi,"  Samarinda Police chief Senior Commissioner Akhmad Yusef Gunawan, who inspected the traveler's flow, said early on Sunday.          He said that the number of passengers would continue to increase this Sunday. "Now hundreds of passengers have packed the port," he said. The peak of the Idul Fitri traveler's flow was predicted to happen on Wednesday, September 8, 2010, he said.          Millions of seasonal passengers travel to their home towns to have family reunions during the annual post-fasting Lebaran holidays. During the Idul Fitri holiday season last year,  the number of home-bound travelers reached  about  27.25 million, of which 16.2 million used various public transportation modes while the remaining 11.2 million used private cars and motorcycles.     ***4*** (T.A014/A/H-NG/A/S012)05-09-2010 11:18: