Jakarta, June 14 (Antara) - The peak of Eid Fitr or Lebaran travelers passing from Java to Sumatra through Marak Port was witnessed on Tuesday night and the wee hours on Wednesday (June 14)
The state-owned waterway transportation service (PT ASDP) recorded that from 8 a.m. on Tuesday until 8 a.m. on Wednesday (June 14), a total of 175,803 homecoming travelers had crossed the Sunda Strait from Marak Port in the western tip of Java to Bakauheni harbor in the eastern part of Sumatra.
According to Land Transportation Managing Agency (BPTD) Head for Banten, Johny Siagian, the peak of Lebaran travelers at Merak Port occurred on Tuesday to Wednesday, or three days to two days (H-3 to H-2) before Lebaran festivities.
Indonesian Muslims are scheduled to celebrate the post-fasting Lebaran festivities on Friday and Saturday, pending the official announcement of the government on Thursday evening.
Based on data at the ASDP, out of the 175,803 passengers crossing to Sumatra on Tuesday or Wednesday morning, 32,317 were pedestrian passengers and 140,040 were travelers on vehicles (public and private vehicles).
The number of vehicles which crossed the Sunda Strait by ferries reached 42,058, consisting of 25,697 two wheelers, 15,317 four wheelers, 640 public buses, and 404 trucks. "H-3 is the peak of the homecoming travelers at Merak Port," Siagian remarked.
He added that on the H-3, the flow of travelers speedily increased simultaneously with the arrivals of two and four wheelers, especially beginning at 11 p.m. In less than one hour, two-wheeler vehicles entering Pier VI of Merak Port had reached one thousand units.
In order to smooth the ferry services, the ASDP operated 25 large ferries with a capacity of over eight thousand GT. These ships could each ferry two thousand two wheelers and 400 four-wheeled vehicles. The medium-sized ferries were also used to serve passengers at Pier IV.
According to Siagian, H-3 has become the peak day of the travelers because private companies have set the beginning of the Lebaran holiday on Tuesday (H-3/June 12). For civil servants, the government applied a collective holiday leave for Lebaran from June 11 to June 21, 2018.
Therefore, there was relatively high traffic jam at Merak Port on Tuesday night and at the wee hours of Wednesday.
Thus travelers heading to Sumatra needed about three hours at Merak Port before they could embark on a ferry. Long queue of travelers` vehicles reached eight kilometers from the toll road to the ferry services at the port.
Transportation officials and traffic police officers worked hard to guide vehicles and manage the traffic until travelers embarked on the ferries. The movement of vehicles depended on the smoothness of vehicles coming in and out of the piers.
According to PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry, the number of travelers who have crossed the Sunda Strait through Marak Port until Tuesday or H-3 had reached 517,045 and 52,238 private cars.
"The number of travelers and vehicles are expected to continue to flow until Wednesday or H-2 through the Merak main port," said Fahmi Alweni, the general manager of PT ASDP for Merak, on Tuesday (June 12).
He said that the 517,045 passengers who had been ferried to Bakauheni harbor in the eastern tip of Sumatra accounted for 67 percent of the total passengers in the same period last year, which stood at 772,641.
It is followed by two-wheeled vehicles numbering 32,322 units, or by 43.6 percent of the total vehicles in the same period last year, which was 74,138 units. Private cars totaled 52,238 units, or about 65.3 percent of last year¿s total of 79,962 units.
Last year, the number of Lebaran travelers crossing Sunda Strait from Java to Sumatra for the Lebaran festivities during H-10 until the H-1 period was recorded at 807,114, while the number of vehicles reached 168,845.
At the same time, during the same period, from H-10 to H-1 (last year), the number of travelers ferried from Bakauheni port to Merak port stood at 371,286 passengers and vehicles, at 67,287.
Meanwhile, Corporate Secretary of PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry, Imelda Alini, remarked that ASDP had made various preparations and anticipatory steps in order to provide a memorable experience for travelers while enjoying the crossing service.
A variety of public facilities are available at passenger terminals, such as clinics, nursing rooms, children's playgrounds, clean toilets, comfortable passenger terminal pavilion, mosque, and parking area.
"A number of service support facilities have been added, ranging from clean toilets in at Merak Port. We are now preparing 100 units, 20 units of which are portable toilets that can be accessed at some port point," Alini explained.
In addition to toilets, ASDP also provides safety and security facilities, such as three units of ambulance, three rubber boats, one crane tower, one unit of fire truck, and six shuttle buses.
For service users who want to worship, she continued, Merak has six units of musholah and one mosque available. In fact, the Port of Merak has also prepared health services with five units of general clinics, one unit of dental clinic, and a breastfeeding room.
During the Lebaran transport service, ASDP also provides snacks, masks, and takjil (meal to break the fast) to service users for free on board the ASDP. In fact, ASDP also provides balloon toys for children on board. ASDP provides attractive prizes of hats and shirts for 1000 online ticket buyers who check in at 09:00 to 16:00.
ASDP urged ferry service users to travel in the morning and afternoon so as to avoid the density at night.***1***(A014/INE)EDITED BY INE/H-YH(T.A014/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 14-06-2018 17:33:4 |
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