The annual mudik exodus, in which millions of Indonesians leave big cities such as Jakarta to return to their hometowns for the Lebaran Idul Fitri holiday, should leave the otherwise traffic-choked streets of the capital clear of macet this year, if official estimates are anything to go by.
According to toll road operator PT Jasa Marga, there will be a slight increase in the number of vehicles leaving Jakarta for mudik compared to last year.
“For our traffic prediction, Jasa Marga estimates that the number of vehicles leaving [Jakarta] will be around 1,442,725 from eight days to one day before [Idul Fitri],” said Jasa Marga Operations Director Muhammad Sofyan, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
Last year, 1,392,441 vehicles left the capital over the same period.
According to 2015 data, there are 3.5 million registered cars and 13.9 million motorcycles in Jakarta. However, 1.4 million vehicles still represents a huge proportion of Jakarta’s estimated population of 10 million, since many residents own multiple vehicles.
In addition, there are also many who will be leaving Jakarta by plane or train, though no official estimates of those numbers have been released.
Therefore, just like in previous Idul Fitris, there will be no better time to explore Jakarta than the upcoming holiday period.
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