Category: General

There are tons of ways to get around Jakarta, and they are each unique and challenging in their own ways.  We thought we’d share.  Here’s a description, ranging from large to small.

A word about Jakarta.  The best way to describe the city layout is like a cross between Las Vegas and a rock concert.  The big buildings are really big, and they don’t look very far away, but it’s a good ten-minute walk to get from one building to another.  The heat also is similar, but it’s not that convenient dry heat that Vegas has.  The rock concert part refers to the fact that there are people everywhere, pushing into you, like a zoo, if you try to walk any distance.

Trans-Jakarta Busway.  This brand-new service runs a nice air-conditioned bus along one major thoroughfare (Jalan Jenderal Sudirman) in its own special lane.  It is just the type of service that Jakarta needs.  However, it does not drop you off anywhere close to 99.9% of the places that you want to go, unless you go to malls and international-class hotels exclusively.  We have yet to use it–it doesn’t go anywhere we need to go, or stop anywhere where we usually are.

Bus Patas AC.  This kind of bus runs all over the city, and is very convenient.  As the name implies, it features air conditioning.  These normally ply the biggest routes between the most well-travelled areas of town.  I (TP) used one once–the cost is 3000 Rp (about 30 cents) no matter where you go.

Kopaja.  This is an acronym for Koperasi Angkutan Jakarta, or Jakarta Bus Cooperative.  This kind of bus does not feature air conditioning, but they have "stops" all over town.  We say "stops" because unless you’re stuck in traffic and not moving, you’ll have to jump on or off while it moves.  They do slow down sort of, so it’s not that bad.  Another hallmark of them is that they belch tremendous amounts of black smoke whenever the driver hits the gas.  We have yet to use them.

Mikrolet.  This is a step down further from Kopaja.  These are like big minivans, and they ply a regular route.  However, unlike regular buses, mikrolet drivers wait until the vehicle is full before leaving.  I (TP) used one once in Bogor, for Rp 3000.

Taxi.  This is our bread-and-butter method of transportation.  There are dozens of taxi "groups," each of which unites several taxi companies under one name.  The indisputed peak of taxi quality in Jakarta is Silver Bird Group, but these are more expensive than the others.  Of the rest, the one that everyone likes to take is Blue Bird.  We have friends who have never taken anything else; we can’t tell why, as there are other groups with new vehicles and safe drivers.  We are normally more flexible, and have taken all sorts of taxis from the very nice Jakarta City Group to the disastrous Royal City Group.  On yesterday’s trip from immigration, our Royal City cabbie leaned on the horn the entire trip, stalled about 10 times, and sang to himself.  Every time we told him where to turn, he got more excited and yelled "Yes! Yes!"  Usually drivers are a very stoical bunch.  The fixed fare for a cab is Rp 3000 for the first mile, and Rp 130 every eighth mile thereafter.

Ojek. This is the most common form of transportation for regular Indonesians.  They are actually motorcycles (at home you’d call them dirtbikes) that zoom all over town.  For a small fee, you can sit on the back and hold on for dear life (if you like).  There is nothing like seeing a distinguished old Muslim woman with a helmet over her jilbab sitting side-saddle on a dirtbike zooming through traffic.  We don’t try these out.

Bajaj. The name for this contraption comes from the Indian company that made them.  The rumor is that some Indian city made them illegal a decade or two ago, so Jakarta bought them.  They can’t go on the big streets, with good reason: they are basically three-wheeled golf carts running two-stroke engines that can reach a top speed of maybe 15 mph.  They feature "natural air conditioning," meaning "no doors."  These contraptions pollute like nobody’s business, and they are extremely noisy.  Since they aren’t allowed on big streets, we can never take them anywhere.  Bajaj are normally an orange/red color with a black roof, but individual drivers seem to like to decorate them with all sorts of intricate paintings.  Since they are so small and colorful, they remind us of hermit crabs in this respect.

Becak. This is the Indonesian version of a rickshaw–it’s a three-wheeled bicycle with a basket in the front that can hold one-and-a-half people comfortably.  These aren’t allowed in Jakarta because they don’t move very fast.  You normally tell the driver where you want to go and negotiate a fee based on that, making necessary allowances for your weight and whether or not you have to go uphill.

Walking.  Not a viable option for most people.  Indonesians would much rather catch a bajaj or an ojek than walk.  In fact, one of the jokes about Westerners is that these are the people trying to walk everywhere.  This leads to a conundrum for us.  There’s a movie theater about 20 minutes away from our house by foot.  We wouldn’t walk there at night, just to be safe.  It’s too close for a taxi to take you.  Bajaj aren’t allowed.  We’re afraid of ojek.  So we can’t get there to watch movies.

(Final transportation note: the government of Indonesia has decided to take measures to make it illegal to ride on top of passenger trains.)

I (jm) love to look out the window while I’m practicing my scales and exercises, and the view from the 11th floor can’t be beat.  It’s just high enough to have a great view of lots of stuff, but not so high that I can’t see all the chickens running around in the alleys.  There’s a village right next door to our building separated by a high wall (which I can easily see over) and boy there’s a lot of activity there.  And I promise I’m not spying on the neighbors– I just watch what happens on the streets!

There are children everywhere that come out and play in the afternoon.  If it rains, typically a small group (of boys) will run around and get soaked and splash in puddles.   When it’s sunny out, they ride their bikes around in circles or take horse and carriage rides around the block.  Often these activities are combined, as the kids like to chase the horse on their bike, and sometimes they’ll hold onto the carriage sides and get a free ride.  One day I saw a guy drive his motorcycle into his house, probably because it was raining, but you think he’d just use a tarp and leave it outside. There are also chickens meandering around pecking at the ground looking for food.  I’ve seen two sets of mommy cats with kittens playing on the rooftops, and one day a lady tried to chase one off the roof with a broom.  Of course, as soon as she stopped swatting, the cat snuck back where it wasn’t supposed to be.  The street is funny too.  It’s about a lane and a half wide and is mostly one way, so mind-boggling traffic snarls occur regularly when two minivans try to pass one another going opposite ways.  There is an equal mix of cars, motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians, and food carts being moved around.  It’s quite fun to watch.

Yesterday I saw a new one though, and it was on our side of the wall.  On the road around our building, a company of either military recruits or security guards or something came jogging by, causing the cars behind them to slow to a crawl.  These guys were running in lines 3 across, about 14 deep, and were wearing heavy shoes and dark pants.  I felt bad for them, it generally feels hot outside when you’re standing still, much less running!  They stopped, found a square of grass, and all flopped down on the grass. Several of them seemed to not hear the instructions becuase they laid down in the wrong direction and then had to turn around.  There was a guy in military fatigues in charge who then had them do some bizarre exercises, such as laying on their backs and holding their legs up in the air.  They also had to hold their arms above their heads, then wiggle their feet around, and then they got up and got back in line.  And all the security guards at our complex were interested, so I watched as they all left their posts to go watch.  If these guy were army recruits, well,  let’s just say I feel bad for the Indonesian army.  But I think it’s more likely they were security guards being whipped (or gently encouraged) into shape.  In any event, it’s always amusing to watch 40 grown men role around in the dirt.