On the road in Jakarta

Jakarta is right up there among the most populous cities in the world, and getting around is often a learning experience in itself. I’d like to describe some road-related phenomena I’ve come to appreciate.

Jockey anyone? Much like LA, Jakarta is known for its traffic and congestion. Indonesians have some creative, indeed ingenious ways to manage this. If you are alone in the car or with only one other person between those brutal commuting hours (7-10 am or 4:30-7pm) you might see men waiving at you as you pass them on the road. They are there to be hired so that you can travel in the lanes that require three or more people in a vehicle. You pay them to fill a seat so that you can use the carpool lane. They are called "jockeys." Brilliant. Given the push for job creation in the US, I hope to see such a workforce develop for the 134, 210, and 405. Jump on it.

Back it up This is one that I could have benefitted from on Allen Avenue. My neighbor (who happens to be named Allen) and I backed into each other while we were trying to avoid cross traffic. Unfortunately, it happened twice. Uh, yeah. It doesn’t help that our driveways nearly align and our street is pretty busy. Needless to say, I was particularly taken with the notion of paying someone to stop traffic so that you can back up and safely enter the flow. Once you’ve backed up, you just hand over the rupiahs. I’m not sure what this service goes for around here. I will look into that.

Sleeping Police I was riding with Ibah the other day and noticed we had just passed over a speed bump. I asked her what these are called in Indonesian. She said “polisi tidur” or “sleeping policeman” because even though they are just lying there, they still disturb you. Awesome. We need more a more creative name in the US. [Incidentally, I suspect this would make for an interesting coffee table book--Bumps, Humps, and Bothers around the World: images of a global predicament. Todd, note that for your list of photo projects.]

Mostly, I ride in taxis and most of the time this works out okay for me. More on that in another post. In the meantime, I realized I took a short video of the street in front of my hotel last week. Todd, this was before your helpful critique that I should make longer videos and put myself in them. So, while this is longer, I am not in this video. But, you’ll see the variety of means of transport here. I also have since learned the vehicle I note in the video is called a bajai (pronounced with an "i" at the end rather than an "a")...my how much has changed since last week.