I started to write a post about all of the things that are a bit
different, or annoying, or ridiculous here, but I realized that it would turn
into a very long post. Instead, I’m starting with the first
thing on my list: traffic and traffic lights.
Of course, traffic lights barely exist in this city with 17 million people and 11 million vehicles (the square footage of vehicles actually exceeds the amount of road available). A good illustration of the traffic problem can be summed up by this picture from Reuters:
I’ve seen
four or five traffic lights total in my time here, and they were all at
intersections where three roads meet. At a traffic light, after the
cars stop, the ojeks will continue to weave around the stopped vehicles, making
a crazy line of motorbikes at the front of the light, much like this YouTube
video* illustrates:
You can observe, too, that the ojeks don’t always obey the light,
moving along as they see fit. Many
Indonesians see ojeks as the solution to the traffic problem, as they are
always faster than driving a car due to the weaving and breaking of laws. Ojeks will weave even when traffic is
moving. I’ve seen them
drive against traffic, ride on the sidewalk, and clip pedestrians walking in
the road (I’ve actually been a clipped pedestrian and have the bruise to prove
it).
As a side note, yes that is a tuk-tuk you see in the traffic to
the right. They are more
common on side streets. I’m
not sure that they are allowed on the major roads, but a traffic law never
stopped anyone in Jakarta.
Okay, you’re thinking. Traffic
sucks. So what if there are
no lights? Well, there are
no on-ramps, either. You
are going to be turning into (to the left, mind you) multiple lanes of traffic
with no room to merge.
The solution? Not
a light; that would take away from jobs.
Instead, see the photos of my friend below (on a pretty slow
traffic day):
I’m not sure what his name is, but I’m calling him my friend
because his face lights up every time he sees me. Sometimes he has a partner at this
intersection. His job is to
direct traffic. And yes,
that is a cigarette he is holding; I won’t even get into teenagers smoking
here.
Basically, he is watching for cars approaching the main road. When one pulls up, he will physically
step into oncoming traffic to stop the left-hand lane and allow the vehicle to
enter the road. His hands
are continuously waving the traffic along.
When I approach, he yells “Hello!” and “Taksi?” and “Blue!”
because he knows that I need a taxi and I will only get into the blue ones. Now, I can very well hail my own cab,
but this is his job. From
my observations, these boys work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week.
What does he get paid, you may ask? Well, he doesn’t. He is depending solely on tips from
the drivers. If you think
that he did a good job for you, you will pass him 500 to 1,000 rupiah from your
window (4 or 8 cents). This,
of course, slows traffic down even further, but I’m not getting into logic here. I give him 1,000 rupiah for hailing my
cab. There is always a
smattering of coins littered underfoot, and I am guessing that he collects
these at the end of the night.
This isn’t a post to pull at your heartstrings, even though my
friend pulls at mine every time I see him. On the contrary, he continuously wears
a smile and does his job. I
guess I don’t know what kind of post this is. I guess it’s just a post.
UPDATE: I have confirmation from 2 Indonesian sources that the boy who directs traffic is known as "Pak ogah."
UPDATE: I have confirmation from 2 Indonesian sources that the boy who directs traffic is known as "Pak ogah."
*borrowed from YouTuber Laurentiu Morariu