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.