A Fun Mode of Transport

I somehow wanted to read stuff about bicycle commuting and then i stumbled on this. Reading such bold message in the article gives me mixed feelings. I cannot agree more in the perspective of bicycle as a transportation mode. I have just started crawling on biking to the office again, finally after years of pause. Well i paused because of reasons.

After working in the seaside hell as written in my previous post, i then moved to other city where i can walk to the place of my activity, no need for bicycle. Having done with that city, i moved back home and started working again. But after years of not riding my bicycle, i just left it collecting dust at home as if i forgot i had it, going to places by public transportation. Around 3 years later since i moved back home, a colleague at work started to cycle to the office. Then i remembered all the reason to ride the bicycle again.

The public transport is extremely unreliable, the drivers are rude, the traffic sucks like crap, it costs me money, and so on. The list is long of why i despise the public transportation in Jakarta and its greater area. I believe i have also posted some stuff related to this before. Yet i have been living such life for years! And yeah, i realize that most reasons to go by bicycle are more to the transportation itself. Hence i agree with the post, it’s transport.

So, having saved tiny bit of money, i decided to restore an old road bike bought years ago. But what i first did then was recreational riding. Refreshing the memory that riding bicycle is fun! I cannot deny it. And it’s good way to gradually get back into form after years of lazing around. I still don’t have the fitness to ride more to work, the last 3 months i have been riding like once a week, plus occasional weekend rides alone or with friends.

Recreational

To be honest, taking the public transport is faster to my office by around 20 minutes. But since the public transport is unreliable, i usually need to wait for 15 to 30 minutes to get one. It means the total time is more or less the same by biking or public transport. Then it means from the commuting time it is a tie. And the bicycle wins because many benefits i can get than just sitting idle in the public transport, such as the fun, the exercise, the low cost, the fun, and the fun.

Next month i plan to add more miles by twice a week riding to the office. I hope i can be stronger soon to ride as often as i could to any place i need to go.

Yeah right, it is indeed a fun transport.

Nice Part of A Seaside Hell

Port of Tanjung Priok, the Jakarta's international harbor. This is where i have been working for the last 7 months. And this is also the reason why i haven't used my bicycle to go to my workplace anymore. Tanjung Priok lies in the very north of Jakarta which is quite far from my house in southern part of Tangerang which is close to South Jakarta.

I think you can already guess what Seaside Hell in the title is. Yeah, the Port of Tanjung Priok and it's vicinity, it's environment, it's social condition, and other things which are quite disturbing my conscience as a normal person. This area is so far the worst part of Jakarta. Jakarta itself is quite hellish, and North Jakarta is the worst from all five provinces in Jakarta in my opinion. That's why i decided not to rent a place so i can get near to my workplace. I prefer spending 2-3 hours just to reach home to staying in this area.

Flood, in front of the office.. wtf..

But there is one thing which is very unique from this hell. So many people ride their bicycle everyday! It's a very nice view to see so many bicycle in this harbor. You can see people ride their bicycle, every morning to work, and every afternoon to go home. Some parking lots are divided to three parts to accommodate cars, motorcycles, and bicycles. These are the simple indication that the bicycle culture has developed for some times. This is the place where bicycle culture has developed better than other place in Jakarta. I have never found a place like this before in Jakarta.

Which one is more fun, driving a truck or riding a bicycle?

Trust me, you can't easily find this kind of view in Jakarta.

But, isn't it strange? As I have written so many times in my earlier posts, this city is inhabited by car-based society, so how on earth can I find many people riding their bicycle in this harbour? Well.. There's an ironic explaination for this..

The car-based society theory is still responsible to explain this unique condition of Tanjung Priok. Most workers here are uneducated human resource who are paid very low. Most of them live around the vicinity of Tanjung Priok Port. Bicycle has been the most financially feasible mode of transportation for them. Because bicycle is cheap, low maintenance cost, and no gasoline needed. And since they live near the port, they can reach their workplace in reasonable time using their bicycle.

They who live a bit farther, choose to take the bus. Meanwhile, other higher class workers who earn more use motorcycle and car. And I believe in the head of lower class workers, they also dream to be able to buy motorcycle to replace their bicycle, but unfortunately their salary is only enough to stay alive in a very low standard of living..

The Motorcycle Phenomenon

This post is about what's been bugging me for these last few months, Jakarta's motorcycle phenomenon..

At least that’s what we can see from the shocking data and the fact of how many motorcycles are in a city called Jakarta. Until May 2010, the total amount of motorcycle in Jakarta is more than 8 million units, 8.087.118 to be exact, while the population of the city is 8.523.157 in February 2010 (source). It’s a very shocking statistic for most of us, it sure is.

Actually, not only the statistic for motorcycle is rising, but other vehicles like cars too. But motorcycle has risen very rapidly, for ‘good’ reasons; at least in the owners' mind.

The first reason lies on the condition of public transportation. If you have lived in Jakarta, and used the public transportation to get around, you would easily find the reason behind this phenomenon related to public transportation.

1. The public transportation system, especially buses. Like other nations, in Indonesia, this transportation business is also run by private sector, some are partly owned by the city government. But something is different here. Most of them are being run by individuals, it’s like someone who has enough money bought some buses and operate them to fulfill the public transportation function.. and then other people do the same thing to, for the same bus course. And to put acid on the wound, these bus owners made a system that every of the bus has to reach target of how much money the bus crews should get in a day. You can imagine, every bus in the same course are competing each other! The implementation is awful. Buses are speeding, like racing against other buses. Buses stop at some places so long to wait for passengers. Buses take different route to be ahead of others. And the most annoying thing is, they often hand over the passengers to other bus as if we are lifeless goods, so they can turn around and take more passengers. All they do only to meet the target that has been given to them.

2. The privately owned buses are only meant to get margin between earning and costs. This is actually ironic. Transportation is service business, yet they don’t give any decent service to the passengers. While other sectors run under ‘zero accident’ policy, it seems that public transportation in jakarta runs under ‘zero maintenance’ policy. Can you imagine those buses without proper maintenance? They press the maintenance cost as low as possible to maximize the margin. What we will find is a very inhuman bus, with so many defects, leak roof, broken windows and seats, poor lightning, extremely high pollution, etc. They even added more seats to load more passengers, with the consequence of very narrow clearance for the passenger’s legs. I can’t even sit properly in those seats. All about margin..

Creepy Bus Interior

Inside of 'Metro Mini'

Another reason related to public transportation is about ‘safety’. Well, it’s about safety of passengers’ belonging and their very lives. I can only tell you, there are lots of bad guys in the buses and the bus terminals. Those 3 reasons are enough to describe how awful the condition of public transportation and enough for people in Jakarta to not choose to take bus as their first choice to fulfill their needs of mobility.

The second reason is the ease to buy motorcycle. Only with around 55 us$ as down payment, you can take a motorcyle home. So ‘cheap’, or the seller made it sounds cheap. The actual price of the average unit is actually not that cheap. But those sellers made the installment payment sounds so cheap, like only 55 us$ a month for few years. And people react positively because it’s now somehow affordable for people from lower social classes. Sure, if they can buy motorcycle instead of taking those horrible buses, why not?!

The third reason is traffic is getting worse, it jams everywhere during peak hours. As the people from higher social classes can afford cars, the road is getting full by it. Cars are being bought every day in Jakarta, while new road is almost never constructed. A simple logic would tell that it will surely be saturated someday. And that day is getting closer. Jakarta is predicted to be paralyzed by its own citizen if people keep buying cars but government do nothing to add the facilities. This condition is getting worse every day, stressful traffic jams are everywhere, and even they who usually drive car would think that it is better to ride motorcycle.

Well.. Maybe there are more reasons of why and why.. But those are what I have in mind..

Sorry, My Brain is Way too Precious

Do you wear helmet when riding your bike? I do.


Have you ever read this?

It's a quite interesting article which might make you think again about your cycling helmet.

The article is not good enough to show comparison between wearing helmet and helmet-less. If you want to compare them, have 2 heads of living men, one wearing helmet and the other is not wearing helmet, then drop those heads from a moving bike, make sure both heads hit something in similar fashion.

Talking about helmet and head injuries, in my opinion, just use your common sense. If you think you don't need to wear a helmet, don't wear it. It is fully an option. But let me ask you. How good is your riding skill? How awful is the traffic in your city? How sure can you avoid all danger of urban cycling?

What I'm trying to say is, SHIT HAPPENS!!

Of course it will not make any difference of wearing helmet or not if you're not in bad luck, when everything is just as smooth as you want, helmet will have no use.. i agree. But what if something unwanted happens and at that time, unfortunately, you're not wearing a helmet? Will a helmet make any difference? Answer it yourself..

This one is important, if wearing helmet affects your riding skill ( i don't know it can happen or not), you should really think twice about wearing helmet. Because helmet only protects your head when shit happens. Your riding skill is the one determining how good you can avoid accidents in urban cycling. Maybe you should find a helmet which is very comfortable for your head.

I'm not trying to force people to wear helmet.. Once again, helmet is an option. But in Jakarta, when bike commuting is simply a survival game, i think you will need full-body armor plus a full-face helmet.

A Capital City Without Traffic Jam

I believe every single person totally agree with this writing..

Last Sunday (Sept 20th), was the day we called "Hari Raya Idul Fitri", which is actually the 1st day of Syawal in Arabic Calendar, the glory day after a month of fasting in Ramadhan. Indonesian people have tradition to come to their hometown to meet the elders and having some kind of gathering with relatives (The Muslim celebrate this day by asking for forgiveness to others).

So many people will take advantage of this glory day, not only Muslim but people with other religion might also visit their hometown because government had set almost a week off. It means a week of holiday, who doesn't want to use this chance to do what they can't do during normal working days?

And guess what happen to the capital city since so many people having a week of holiday in their hometown, yes, Jakarta regain its beauty once again.. Can you imagine a capital city without traffic jam??! Beautiful! Since i don't usually visit my hometown i can see a very significant decrease of cars and motorcycles during this holiday. The public transportation still operating, doing their duty, of course it is reduced since not too many passengers will use them. Yeah, beautiful days with only acceptable amount of motor vehicles on the streets of Jakarta. I believe everyone would love to have this kind of traffic condition everyday.


A city without traffic jam.. Who doesn't want it? We all want no traffic jam. This nation is actually lucky to see an example of solution for a severe traffic problem. The solution is actually much more simple than you think: Stop using your private cars!! Use public transportation and your bicycles. This will surely take the traffic jam we all hate away from this lovely city. Too bad, since they are not in Jakarta to see how wonderful Jakarta is in last few days.. They can't see this simple solution of traffic jam.

Most people will be back to Jakarta tomorrow, and in Monday, Jakarta will be the way it used to be.. Traffic jam.. everywhere.. I wish people can see through these last few days, how wonderful a city can be by controlling the number of cars in the street. I wish everyone can rethink about how to commute everyday, start to do some walking, take the public transportation to their office, or use their bicycle to go around, and experience a city with no traffic jam, a city with its beauty..

But I also believe no one agrees with the idea of not using their cars to commute.. XD

No-Sweat Bike-Commuting

After reading some blogs about bike commuting which tell us how to not be soaked by our own sweat, i decided to give it a try, and... quite satisfying result.. hehe..

Want to know how did i do it?

1. The first thing to keep the sweat away is : NO BACKPACK! Seriously, put your bag on the rack.. or if you have no rack, change your backpack with some kind of bag with a concept of messenger bag. So you can easily move your bag to the front of your body without dismounting the bag from your back. When you feel it is about to sweat, you can just move the bag away from your back.
2. Sit in upright position. Adjust your bike so the saddle is lower than the handle bar so you can sit in upright position. With this position you can ride your bike with more relax, and the sweat will of course reduced.
3. And the important thing to keep you out of sweat is..... to slowdown. Come on, stop pushing yourself too hard. Just relax, slowdown, and enjoy the ride. Riding a bike is actually the same with walking, both use your own power. But one you can do with your bike is, coasting. Some people say coasting is a bad habit, okay, somehow i agree, but it is a very useful feature to keep you sweat-less. Or you don't have to do the coasting part, just ride it in a slow to moderate speed. Why so hurry when riding your bike? We all know the joy of riding a bike, so enjoy it.

Those are three main things to commute by bike without sweat i found in some blogs. The first two tips can be done with not much problem i believe. But in Indonesia, it's not easy to slowdown, because we share the lane with motorcycles.. And another issue is our tropical climate. The heat will definitely make you sweat. That's why it is not easy to keep your body out of sweat if we have to go by bike in midday, but still very feasible if we commute in morning time.

Well, i hope the tips will be useful..

Bike for Work

Some kind of works in Indonesia do need something to transport their goods, bicycle and tricycle are somehow chosen because it's cheap, no fuel needed, and low maintenance.

Here's the goods list and some pics:

Indonesian traditional crackers called "kerupuk"

Ketchup and sauces


Milk


Indonesian meatball called "bakso"


Ice Block


Bread

and also
- Newspaper
- Vegetables
- Fish
- Tofu
- Chicken Porridge
etc..

That's the list, i'm gonna update it as soon as i get more pictures and goods list.