Traffic in Jakarta

Thoughts on Indonesia today
(by Melvin)

As I think of the many things about Jakarta that I like, the thing I think of most is the traffic. It is absolutely incredible to watch. Sometimes the cars are so close together that you think there is no way that you will ever be able to move. All at once, you stick the nose of the car in front of another car and they yield and let you in. The only honking that goes on is to let someone know that you are coming by. This is a courtesy honk, not an anger honk. People will be crossing the street just about anywhere, in the middle of the block, at a corner, across a ‘walk over’ or diagonally. It is amazing to watch cars yield. In all of Jakarta there is absolutely no stop signs and only a very, very few red lights. Traffic gets around by simply merging with the flow. If you want to make a turn, you find a ‘flyover’ and cross all the lanes of traffic and go the opposite direction. Many times when you are really crowded, you will find street vendors right out in the jam of cars selling snacks, magazines, maps, toys or just begging. Sometimes you will see young children out in huge traffic jams simply standing by your car looking in your window with their hand out and no parents around that you can see ( often they look to be only 5 or 6 years old). When I say traffic jams, I mean maybe 6 cars wide in 3 lanes and three roads merging into 2 lanes. When we go to church early Sunday morning, It takes about 10 minutes most of the time. When we go to teach English at the same building on a Tuesday night, it will often take 2 hours to get there. In front of all businesses, there is always a man/boy who will walk out in front of the traffic to stop it so you can get onto the road. This also happens wherever you need to turn across the opposite lane of traffic. In each case, you give the traffic person a ‘tip’. This is the only job many people have here in Jakarta. You think that it wouldn’t be much of a job because you only tip 10 or 20 cents, but on a real busy street, they will do quite well, if they don’t get hit. The average taxi driver works two 20 hour shifts back to back and then a day off. Sometimes they work four 20 hour shifts back to back and 2 days off in a row. They get take home pay from $2 to $5 per day depending on how much they get in tips. The strange thing is that we see very few accidents (maybe 3) in all the time we have been here. It is estimated that on a work day, there will be 20,000,000 cars and motor bikes on the roads of Jakarta each day and there is no rapid transit of any kind. By the governments own estimate there are 8,000 privately run busses that do not have either brake lights or signal lights or neither that work. Almost all buses have a guy that hangs out the back side and signals cars that the bus is stopping or changing lanes. By the year 2014, most people that know, think that the city will be in total gridlock. An overhead trolley was started about 5 years ago and a few stands were built in the center of town, but that has been abandoned because of lack of money. When people come to visit, it is so fun to watch their expressions as we drive around. Many, Many motor bikes with multiple passengers always.

In town there is several types of roads. There are the tollways where money is paid to drive on a road that’s too crowded, terrible surface, traffic drives asfast as they can, (but no motor bikes). Then there is the limited access roads where motor bikescan run, but you cannot access businesses. And then there is the roads that allow motor bikes, people, broken down cars, lots of pollution etc. All three types of roads run side by side so that there is six different roads altogether. The motorbikes go everywhere, between, over, around and through the traffic. If the cars are all stopped, the bikes keep going, wherever there is an opening, a bike will be. Girls ride them to work in high heels and dresses, Guys take their girls on dates, families take their kids to school and generally they are a way of life in Indonesia. They are much faster than cars because of their agility, much cheaper, and cost less to operate. Gasoline is now above 9000 Rupiahs per liter, which makes it $4.00 per gallon. It is so fun to see the different uses of motor bikes. The pictures were taken by Elder Grover in Solo, but we see equally strange sights here in Jakarta. This is the place we need to be at this time in our lives and we love what we are doing. Everyone at the Service Center rides a motor bike to work, some days there will be 15 bikes in front of the building.

Catch up on your reading!

If your motor bike breaks down, your bike is right there to ride on.