Ranting On Jakarta’s Traffic
Jakarta’s incomprehensible traffic has just about become world-popular, but would you like a local’s perspective?
I live in Jakarta. I’d like to think (and be grateful) that I live particularly well-off, smack in the middle of the so-called Indonesian middle class. I have a car that’s fully paid off, married and living with my parents-in-law in a decidedly upscale area near Jalan Bangka, Kemang [And yes, in Indonesia, it’s quite normal for multiple families living under one roof, even in the upscale areas]. But this isn’t the tale I want to convey.
Jakarta, and by extension Indonesia, is a car salesman’s dream. Similar to the LA, the only practical way to get around the city is by private vehicle, be it a car or a motorcycle (more on that later). There are bus routes, but the buses are in really bad condition, not to mention hunting grounds for pickpockets. To go from my home to my office in the Bulungan area, around 3km away, would take me changing buses and walking a lot, compared to a 20-minute ride on a car or motorcycle. I’d like to think I’m not lazy, but I hate to waste time, and avoid walking too much. Remember, Jakarta is a tropical city, where crossing the road can make you sweat from the humidity.
Conspiracy theorists say the city’s terrible public transport infrastructure was done on purpose — so that more people would buy private vehicles. Bus routes are expansive yet hardly comprehensive, and there are still some areas in the Greater Jakarta area untouched by public transport, only reachable by private vehicle. This is where usually the motorcycle taxis, or ‘ojek’, come in play; which for a negotiated price and the lending of a pungent helmet — if even offered — will get you where you want to go.
What, taxis you ask? Why yes, we’re not completely in the stone age. We have taxis. If NYC is yellow, Jakarta is blue with taxis, the dominant brand being Blue Bird and its brethren, with copycats also using blue, albeit with different interior smells (I’ll spare you the details). On a good day, it’s easy to get a cab right of the street, or order by phone or mobile app. But come a rainy Friday night, either all the taxis are taken, or have entirely disappeared. The empty taxis that can be found, will actually reject people due to traffic or simply not going in a direction that has less traffic (which is increasingly impossible, especially on said rainy Friday night). At least a taxi queue is one of those lines that people rarely cut into.
Motorcycle taxis were usually used for ‘short’ trips from a main street into a housing complex or maze of alleyways, where short could mean up to 1km. But now, they are the saviour of many, taking passengers for trips up to 15km into the city (which is not so far in terms of Jakarta’s scale), skipping through the endless rows of cars jammed on the street. Some people even wisely prepare their own helmets and jackets for such trips. But even motorcycle taxis are not a guarantee of a speedy trip, as there are literally millions of other motorcycles on the Jakarta roads.
Motorcycles are the bane of civilisation. No, let me rephrase that to be a bit more politically correct: many motorcyclists are the bane of civilisation, even for fellow motorcyclists. Before a recent, oddly consistent crackdown, you would often see motorcycles without license plates, without headlights or taillights, equipped with mufflers with noise levels equaling a rock concert, speeding between vehicles and even going the wrong way. And of course, the motorcyclist would be without a helmet (and if you ask, without a driver’s license). The police have cracked down on the lights and helmets, yet not much on the other things.
These guys will just speed ahead at an intersection when a). the light is green, b). the light is orange, c). the light just turned red, and d). the light is red but the intersection is empty or he/she thinks he can get away with it. They will cut in front of your car/motorcycle and get angry if you honk, even when it was them who were going the wrong way or were going against the traffic light. A green light will invite a chorus of motorcycle horns blare, rushing whoever is in front of them to go forward, even when barely a split second had passed. It’s some sort of unconscious reflex.
Recently there was a harrowing story of a husband and his pregnant wife who got into an accident — since the crash with a car happened on a flyover, the wife was thrown clear from the flyover down to the ground below and died. Why the crash? The flyover was wisely banned from motorcycles, but many motorcyclists still tried despite obvious road signs, and turned back on the same lane when they saw cops waiting. The flyover itself physically divided between the to and fro lanes, so the motorcyclists would have had to challenge oncoming traffic. Accidents waiting to happen.
There’s also another tale of a group of motorcyclists entering the lane specially assigned to the Transjakarta network, who upon seeing cops waiting to write tickets for them at the end of the lane, decided to hold up the Transjakarta buses just so they could lift up their bikes above the 60cm road median to the opposite lane, just to avoid a ticket. Not an easy feat, as these bikes are not light.
Being jerk drivers is not only a motorcyclist thing, of course — we meet many drivers in cars who speed whenever they can, changing lanes like Schumacher, honking everyone in the way, even pedestrians. A green light or “bekibolang” (an abbreviation for something like ‘turn left on red’ policy) is deemed equal to a human right, which nobody can take away, even oncoming traffic. And of course there are those jerks who would speed up and overtake people turning right or left at an intersection, effectively going on the wrong lane by doing so.
But the ultimate jerks in cars, on par with motorcyclists, are those with police sirens (often with a motorcycle police escort). They will sound their sirens generously at anyone who is willing to hear, especially people in the way. While escorts like this are usually reserved for, well, still a big number of politicians, government officials and police/army officers, you can actually pay to get a police escort, or just buy a police siren, to make your own stupid noises.
Especially ridiculous is wailing police sirens in unmoving traffic, hoping that the noise alone would get traffic moving. Just because these dimwits have a police siren, they expect that they are entitled to less traffic. Imagine how frustrating it is to sit in traffic for hours, with a police siren blaring behind you constantly. I’d sue them for abuse of power if there was such a thing, and if it would actually change things. But considering the amount of money-hungry yuppies trying to win elections now, this feeling of entitlement problem may be just beginning.
The strange way how Jakarta is planned doesn’t help things. Most office jobs are in the city centre, yet affordable housing gets farther and farther away from the city every year, with Jakarta being the number one growth market for real estate, in the WORLD. If I could afford my own house, a 20-30km, 2-3 hour commute would be necessary, for a one way trip. A majority of people working in the Jakarta metropolitan area actually live outside Jakarta, while those who do live in the central Jakarta areas (like Menteng) probably don’t have to go to an office every day.
In between the factory labor who usually live near their factories and the ultra-rich living in the city, there is an ever-growing mass of middle-class Jakartans, with their cars and motorcycles, crowding the roads commuting into and outside Jakarta every day. Some have resorted to renting out rooms near their offices, which range from simple bed and cupboard to hotel-level facilities. Some lucky ones, like me, live with family inside the city. And some just endure the commute, which gets worse every day, and double that on rainy days.
With fuel prices soaring, the government actually initiated a ‘cheap green car’ program, when being neither cheep nor green — the cars cost around Rp 100 million (about US$9000) but can only use unsubsidised, more expensive fuel. They say the car is meant for the ‘little people’ — those with a lower income bracket — but naturally the car is snapped up by parents looking for a car for their teenagers, or families looking for a cheap replacement for their older cars. So the traffic has gotten — and will get — worse.
Jakarta traffic is a total mess and not enough things are being done about it, but many building developers take advantage of it by building malls with large parking spaces, so that people can wait out the worst of the commute hours, and obviously shop. Of course, there is simply nowhere else you can go in Jakarta if you want to avoid traffic; parks are rare yet malls are almost at every corner. 7 Elevens are places to hang out, not convenience stores; and some traffic-packed roads actually are lined with hawkers and pop-up stores, making traffic even worse.
There may be a light at the end of the tunnel, though: after tens of years of talk and so-called planning, they’re finally starting work on a mass rapid transit system — Jakarta being the only major city in South East Asia without one — and they’re starting work to reform the bus transit systems. There is a lot of work to be done before it gets any easier, especially educating an ignorant public (or getting rid of ignorant, useless government officials). Ride share programs like Nebengers are on the rise, and a Bike To Work movement has had slow but consistent growth, to the point where some workplaces provide showers.
I love Jakarta, it is home — yet the traffic is unbearable. A well-planned day and route is important to get the most out of a day in Jakarta, and while not all people on the road might know traffic etiquette, getting frustrated and angry to other driver about it is probably a waste of energy.. well, at least, that’s what I always try to tell myself.
At least, we can do some of our work through the Internet… well, if only I could get a data signal on my smartphone, that is. But that’s another rant for another time.
