Banyak Macet! Traffic in Jakarta

Traffic on the main toll road in Jakarta during evening rush hour from pedestrian overpass.

Hi! Betsy here. I'm a Masters student in the SIS Masters in International Development program. I started my summer interning at The Jakarta Post in Jakarta Pusat on Jalan Palmerah Barat, a little West of Central Jakarta. After one week with the class in Kuala Lumpur, the one thing I keep coming back to when describing Jakarta is the traffic jams ("macet"). It's on a completely different level than what I've seen in KL. The above picture is an example. From the picture, you might assume that this road has five or more lanes. Not so. According to the lines, there are only three, plus the bus only lane. But traffic just fills in any empty spaces with cars, motorbikes and buses. You can see on the left how cars are even filling in the supposedly bus-only lanes. You can get a hefty fine for this, but they do it anyway. I have been in many taxis that employed this method, despite the separator you have to drive over to get into the bus lane. 

Typical view from inside a taxi - Driver on the right, passenger on the left - they drive opposite the US, on the left side of the road. Also, each driver has their taxi license with photo and code number in all the BlueBird/Pusaka taxis on the left. This is very very light traffic on a Sunday afternoon. 

In Jakarta, the most common form of transportation suggested to me was the taxi ("teksi"). This surprised me, as I had ridden on multiple forms of transportation in Latin America. I was told only to take a BlueBird/Pusaka taxi or an Express/Eagle taxi, as they are always metered and have the best track records in the city. Though I would have liked to try more methods, I have only picked up a few words in Bahasa Indonesia, so I mostly relied on taxis. 

Good things to know how to say for riding in a taxi: 

Selamat Pagi/Siang/Sore/Malam: Good morning/noontime/afternoon/evening

The name of the location where you intend to go

Dekat: near to (good for giving directions toward a landmark near your desired location)

Di sini: Here

Di sana: There

Lurus: Straight

Kanan: Right

Kiri: Left

Sebarang: Across from

when your directions are bad: Maaf!: Sorry!

and of course: Terima Kasih: Thank you

for fun: Banyak macet: a lot of traffic jams

when you don't understand: Saya tidak mengerti (bahasa Indonesia): I don't understand (Indonesian). 

The level of English my taxi driver could speak varied, with some drivers speaking no English. But most of the time even if I could barely speak any Indonesian, showing an address worked for getting where I wanted to go. The drivers did not hesitate to stop and ask for directions, sometimes multiple times. 

Typical line-up of 20+ motorbikes at the Slipi intersection near my residence

Many people in Jakarta also use motorbike taxis ("ojek"), but I haven't tried this method as I'm afraid. The appeal for many is that motorbikes can zip in and out of traffic and are actually much quicker during heavy traffic and rush hours. Another American interning at The Jakarta Post told me that in Jakarta people avoid traffic as though waiting for a storm to pass over, often traveling much earlier or later to an appointment in order to avoid sitting in traffic for an hour or more during rush hours. There is a new app, Go-Jek, which is popular with expats and locals alike because it works like Uber, with a map showing your driver coming towards you and the ability to pay with your credit card through the app instead of haggling with the driver at your destination. Uber is also very popular, but since they don't have a special license to be able to drive on the roads restricted to vehicles with three or more passengers, it can sometimes be quite a circuitous journey to your destination. I did find that the Uber drivers spoke better English and had nicer and larger cars than the taxis. 

Jakarta commuter line map

Another popular method of transportation is the Jakarta commuter line, a rail system that goes out to the suburbs and throughout the city. However, it seemed that everywhere I wanted to go required multiple transfers and took quite a long time due to lines not being designed in a way that fit where I wanted to go. Another intern and I did take the train to Bogor, a city about an hour South of Jakarta, where we visited the Bogor Botanical Gardens, and it was fairly comfortable on the weekend. However, I think foreigners often avoid it because during the week it can be extremely crowded and confusing.

Inside the commuter train

The first and last cars of every train are reserved for women only. The only men allowed in the cars are police and train staff. 

You may have noticed I haven't mentioned walking. I had the fortune of finding a residence only 500 meters from my internship at The Jakarta Post. I walked to and from work, which I think was much better than braving traffic every day. However, as you can see below, at the end of my work day, around 6 or 7pm, I still had to contend with traffic. After a few weeks, the most common method I used to cross the street was to find one of the security or traffic cops who had lights and whistles to help me across, since traffic was much more likely to stop for them than me!

Typical weekday evening on my street: a mix of pedestrians, motorbikes, cars, and minibuses.