RETURNING TRAVELERS FLOW

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Sept 18 (ANTARA) - The reverse flow of this year's Idul Fitri or Lebaran  exodus is expected to peak on Saturday or Sunday as millions of travellers are due to resume  their routine activities on Monday after  week-long reunions with family or relatives in their respective home towns or villages.         Millions of seasonal passengers traveled to their home towns for the reunions during the annual post-fasting Lebaran holidays.           "It is expected that the peak of the returning flow of Lebaran travellers will take place today," Ahmad Saputra, a spokesman of the Senen Railway Station in Central Jakarta, said here on Saturday.          He said that the number of Idul Fitri travelers arriving at Senen station on Saturday was expected to reach 16 thousand. "I think the figure will  not be too far from that arriving on  D-Day plus four which reached 14,755 passengers," he said.          Ahmad said that the number of arriving passengers on  D-Day plus one (Sunday), plus two and plus three was only about 6,000 per day but it jumped  on  D-Day plus four to 14,755 passengers. On D-Day plus five it reached 14,858 and on  D-Day plus six, the number of arriving passengers dropped to 11,771.           Up to 11,30 hours on Saturday, a total of 8,396 returning passengers had arrived at the station on 18 trains. A total of 12 other trains had yet arrive.  During this year's lebaran festivities,  railway company  Perum Kerta Api fielded 30 trains from  Senen station, of which 20 trains were regular ones and 10 others were additional.           In the meantime, the reverse flow of Idul Fitri travellers, both with vehicles or in person, on Saturday began to show density at Bakauheni port in the eastern tip of Sumatra which connected Merak port in the western tip of Java.           Based on ANTARA's observation, thousands of passengers continued to flow and packed the waiting room of the ticket counters. They stood in queue to get their turn to purchase ferry tickets to cross the Sunda strait from Sumatra to Java.           Most of passengers came from Rajabasa Main Bus Terminal in Bandarlampung which is one of the last bus terminals which connect passengers with other cities in Sumatra.          Private vehicles, both two wheel and four or more wheels, has also flowed since in the morning  creating long queues and accumulations.          Based on data at Bakauheni command post,  at least 408,526 returning Idul Fitri travelers have been ferried by the inland waterway transportation service PT ASDP from Bakauheni port of Lampung  Merak port of Java.          The figure was based on accumulative data of returning travellers from Sunday (Sept 12) to early Saturday at 00:00 Western Indonesia Standard Time (WIB).          The number of passengers ferried from Bakauheni to Merak on the D-Day plus one last Sunday reached 52,000, on the D-Day plus two 74,496, on D-Day plus three 81,009, on the D-Day plus four 80,219, on the D-Day plus five 60,125 and on the D-day plus six (last Friday) 59,793.          On the D-Day plus three, the number of travelers was the highest one because the day was the end of the joint holidays announced by the government.          In the meantime the number of vehicles transported from Bakauheni to Marak since the D-Day plus one to plus seven was recorded at 81,642 units. It consisted of 41,214 two wheel vehicles and 40,328 four or more wheel vehicles.          The highest number of vehicles ferried took place on the D-Day plus three when it reached 16,879 units of various vehicles such as private cars, motorcycles, buses and trucks.           Before the Idul Fitri holidays, PT ASDP recorded at total of 427,073 home-bound travellers who travelled to Sumatra from Java with vehicles amounting to 93,389 units, of which 44,131 were two wheel motor vehicles and 49,000 were four or more wheel vehicles.          For the time being, the ferry service company has recorded 408,528 travelers who have returned from Sumatra to Java since the D-Day plus one with 81,642 vehicles, of which 41,314 were two wheel and 40,328 where four wheel or more.         Meanwhile, the peak of the reverse flow of Idul Fitri travellers in East Java was expected to take place on Sunday.  PT ASDP predicted that travelers from East Java through Ketapang port to Bali would peak on Sunday.          "The movement of travelers' flow through Ketapang port could already be observed this evening and tomorrow. Sunday would be the last day of travellers' days off," PT ASDP Manager for Ketapang Charda Damanik said on Saturday.          He said that schools would also begin their classes on Monday so that it was predicted that Sunday was the last holiday. Thus travellers who would be ferried to Bali would peak on Sunday.          Damanik said that PT ASDP would not put into operations 28 units of ferries which had been prepared before because Uma Kalada ferry which replaced KMP Bontang Kaltim (now docking in Surabaya), would have its operation permit expired on Saturday.          "Therefore, we will optimise the operations of KMP Uma Kalada today and tonight," he said.          The number of travelers who were ferried to Bali on Friday up to 00:00 hours on Saturday was recorded at 8,323 passengers with two wheel vehicles reaching 5,291 and four wheel ones recorded at 1,176 units.          The total number of travellers who had returned to Bali since the D-Day plus one was recorded at 206,068 with total two wheel vehicles at 33,132 and four wheel ones at 23,345 units.          In the meantime, the total number of travellers crossing from Bali to Java during the D-Day minus seven to minus one was 110,223 persons, two wheel vehicles 3,745 and four wheel ones 18,883.          During the Idul Fitri holiday season last year,  the number of home-bound travellers reached 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/HAJM/16:20/A/O001) 18-09-2010 16:33: