Saturday, 22 January 2011

Macet = Traffic

The traffic in Jakarta is amazing.

First of all, There don't seem to be any rules, it's just a free for all / bravest car wins sort of thing. I have yet to see a stop sign and usually the roads are just complete gridlock. Especially on Mondays, Fridays, anytime before or after work and all day on the weekend.

Jakarta, being the city of entrepreneurial spirit that it is, has these "volunteers" that stand out on the road and direct traffic for donations. You pay them 1000 or 2000 rph for walking out into the road and stopping oncoming traffic so you can go.   Basically that's equivalent to giving someone 10-25 cents everytime you want to make a turn where there is no traffic light.

Most of the time walking would be faster, but anytime there is even a hint of a sidewalk it is used to put a little store on or drive on.

Taking the bus here is another adventure on it's own and not advisable during traffic. While Jakarta does have a public transit system, most of the buses that connect to that are privately owned. These "ankats" look like a hollowed out minivan but even smaller. When the metal benches fill up inside, you can just hang off the side of the bus and hitch a ride. Prices range from 2000 to 3000rph (around 25 cents), but there us no air-conditioning and you are lucky to get a seat jammed in between two strangers. The best part is that these buses never actually stop and Jakarta locals are really good at simultaneously jumping out of the left side of a moving bus with all their belongings while handing the driver sitting on the right hand side the correct payment.  Having attempted this myself I can honestly say that it is no small feat.

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