"People, who have been able to go on leave, please go home earlier on April 13-17 to avoid congestion," he noted in a written statement received here, Thursday.
The minister remarked that the government had also made several efforts to avoid vehicle congestion on a certain day.
"We hope that with the anticipatory efforts that have been made, the ratio between the capacity of roads and the volume of passengers and vehicles or the volume to capacity (V/C) ratio can remain below number 1, which means it is still running smoothly," he explained.
One of the precautionary efforts taken was advancing the joint leave holiday period to April 19-25, 2023. Thus, there are additional days for travelers to travel for the Eid homecoming.
"Therefore, the pressure on the peak day of the homecoming flow can be pushed forward or on the days before the peak day," Sumadi stated.
In addition, several transportation and road operators have provided discounted rates or promos to encourage people to travel earlier, including toll road operators, such as Jasa Marga and Hutama Karya.
Hutama Karya provides a 20-percent discount for the Trans Sumatra Toll Road on April 16-18 and return flow on April 26-28, 2023. Meanwhile, Jasa Marga provides a 20-percent discount on the Jakarta Cikampek Toll rates for April 16-18 and April 27-29, 2023.
Moreover, state-owned railway company, KAI, provides discounted train rates for April 14-17, 2023. This effort is also followed by airlines, such as Citilink, TransNusa, Super Air Jet, Lion Air, and the state-owned airline company, Garuda Indonesia, with a discounted price on April 13-17, 2023.
Meanwhile, to anticipate the density of vehicle traffic at the peak of homecoming, various traffic engineering scenarios have been prepared, such as contraflow, one-way, odd-even vehicle plate policy, restrictions on freight transport, rest area management, and others.
"Traffic engineering will begin on April 18, 2023, starting from the Cikampek KM 72 toll road to the Kalikangkung KM 414 toll gate," the minister remarked.
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Translator: Benardy Ferdiansyah, Resinta S
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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