Driving in Jakarta takes nerves of steel

Driving in Jakarta takes nerves of steel

Having good health or being physically fit is not enough to
drive in Jakarta: one needs guts, and maybe a touch of insanity.

Feeling unable to meet this extra, frivolous requirement, some
people have stopped sitting behind the wheel altogether.

"I stopped driving because I could no longer tolerate the
chaos on the streets," said a colleague recently, sounding
exasperated. "Now I depend on my son to take me to the office in
the morning and pick me up again in the evening."

Luckily, this buddy of mine in his 50s, who lives in Pondok
Pinang, South Jakarta, has two grown-up children, including a son
in college who doubles as his personal driver.

The peak of this colleague's frustration came one day when he
was stuck in a traffic jam on the way to our Central Jakarta
office. A luxury SUV cut into their lane when he and around 20
other motorists were waiting patiently, queued in the traffic.

"This enraged my son, who was driving. He got out of the car
and approached the middle-aged driver who cut in."

Fearing that situation could spin out of control, he quickly
got out and followed his son, catching up to ask him to get back
in the car.

"My instinct was right. Instead of apologizing, the guy who
cut in challenged me to a fight. He cooled down only after he
found out that I was journalist."

Was this colleague too demanding -- perhaps like many people
of his generation, who advocate an orderly and ethical life?

Whether yes or no, another, younger colleague who lives in
Bintaro, a suburb south of Jakarta, said he too had quit driving
as a kind of protest against the disorderly traffic. Now, he
takes a taxi or an express bus, which is cheaper, safe and quite
comfortable. In addition, he is free from the mental stress of
hitting or being hit by other vehicles.

"On a bus or in a taxi I can rest, although I must be careful
with my laptop when I bring it with me," he said.

The 1997 financial crisis, which eventually turned into the
political crisis that brought Soeharto down from his 32-year
rule, has also changed the political, economic and social
landscape of Indonesia, including transportation.

In Jakarta, road development came to a halt, the discipline of
motorists declined and law enforcement weakened. The number of
vehicles, however, showed an opposite trend.

The capital is home to around 4.7 million vehicles: 1.4
million private cars, 403,000 commercial vehicles -- trucks,
public buses and minivans -- and 2.6 million motorcycles. The
figure continues to rise, and around 130 new cars are sold in
Greater Jakarta every day, most destined for the capital's
streets.

Following in the footsteps of metropolises in the world,
Jakarta has built new overpasses, underpasses, toll roads and
special busway projects to alleviate its traffic congestion.
Several major thoroughfares have also been designated time-
restricted zones for vehicles with less than three passengers:
during the rush hours of 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4:30 p.m. to
7 p.m.

Protests aside, the restricted zones met with some success,
experiencing lighter traffic. But traffic became more congested
in other areas, which pushed some motorists, especially middle-
income earners, to switch from cars to motorcycles to cut costs
and travel time -- even though motorcycles offer less security.

This influx of motorcycles has created even more problems for
Jakarta's already excessive modes of transportation like buses,
minivans, taxis and three-wheelers like bajaj, kancil and becak
-- many of which ignore traffic regulations, but this is merely
the tip of an iceberg.

Lately, traffic jams and on-road disorderliness, which has
long been cause for concern among the capital's business
community, has now become a common sight in towns outside
Jakarta, including medium-sized towns like Pekanbaru.

A Californian who is working for an oil company in Pekanbaru,
Riau, complained in an email, "Management doesn't let us drive
ourselves outside camp because of how crazy traffic is. Even
though California moves fast, at least traffic there is
predictable and the traffic rules are enforced so driving is
easier."

The American hit the nail on the head: Weak law enforcement is
one source of the traffic problems in Indonesia, but which is
aggravated by a corrupt system in charge of issuing licenses like
vehicle registration documents and driver's licenses, as well as
the opening of new routes.

"Traffic problems should have been worse than this," another
friend said cynically. "It's incomprehensible why Depok, with a
1.3 million population that drive cars and motorcycles, is
allowed a fleet of 14,000 minivans."

The municipality's authorities keep issuing new licenses for
minivans -- worth tens of millions of rupiah each -- without
taking into consideration either road capacity or market demand.
The bottom line is, money for its coffers and officials.

The result is all-too predictable. Minivans stop in "no
stopping" zones to pick up passengers and rush along at high
speeds with a full "load", just so they can make enough money to
pay the vehicle owners at the end of the day.

Traffic lights and stop signs have become toothless traffic
enforcers -- and let's not get into the violations committed by
drivers of private cars. Discipline has flown out the window
along with civil engineering. Really, the difference is only in
the value and quality of the vehicles.

So, for the time being, it seems that we Jakartans have no
choice but to adapt to the everyday disorderliness -- or stop
driving.

-- Ardimas Sasdi