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.

Riding Safety

These are basic rules about riding safety i found in Dahon manual:

1. You are sharing the road or the path with others - motorists, pedestrians and other cyclists. Respect their right.
2. Ride defensively. Always assume that others do not see you.
3. Look ahead, and be ready to avoid :
   - Vehicles slowing or turning, entering the road or your lane ahead of you, or comming up behind you.
   - Parked car doors opening.
   - Pedestrians stepping out.
   - Children or pets playing near the road.
   - Petholes, sewer grating, railroad tracks, expansion joints, road or sidewalk construction, debris and other.
   - The many other hazards and distractions which can occur on bicycle ride.
4. Ride in designated bike lanes, on designed bike paths or as close to the edge of the road as possible, in the direction of the traffic flow directed by local governing laws.
5. Stop at stop signs and traffic lights; slow down and look both way at street intersections. Remember that bicycle always loses in a collision with a motor vehicle.
6. Use approved hand signals for turning and stopping.
7. Never ride with headphones.
8. Never carry a passanger.
9. Never hitch a ride by holding on to another vehicle.
10. Don’t weave through traffic or make unexpected moves.
11. Observe and yield the right way.
12. Never ride your bicycle while under influence of alcohol or drugs.
13. If possible, avoid riding in bad weather, when visibility is obscured, at dawn, dusk or in the dark, or when extremely tired. Each of this conditions increases the risk of accident.

And keep this one in mind.. expect the unexpected..

Keep riding safely!

People's Reasons

Indonesia is a beautiful tropical country which lies between Asia and Australia. Why do I start this post with that sentence? Because tropical climate, with constant hot temperature, and a lot of rain, is one of reasons why people in Indonesia don't like to ride their bike to get around. They don't like the sweat. Riding on a bike will definitely soaks you in your own sweat. And they don't want to get wet because of the rain which its rate is very high in tropical rainy season. Of course, this condition will make you think twice to ride your bike.

The second reason is cyclists need to struggle against the traffic. This is considered very dangerous by most people live in big cities in Indonesia. As i mentioned in earlier post, too many people see bikes as hindrance for other vehicle's mobility. And many drivers don't expect to find cyclists because not many people ride on their bike. This is very dangerous. Because you usually don't see what you're not looking for. As for the very basic rule for cyclists to commute is to ride defensively. Because bike will lose in collision with any vehicles. Remember, bikes don't kill people, cars do, a lot..

Third reason, most people, especially who work in Jakarta, live quite far from their workplace. They mostly live in suburban area of Jakarta or near the border between Jakarta and provinces around Jakarta. So they think riding a bike is not an option to go to work. They will end up driving cars, motorcycles, or public transportation.

Next reason, facility. No bike lane, no parking area for bikes. This is also reason why people don't use bike to get to somewhere. Facility for bikes is a simple way to know whether a society has a bike culture or not. Because government will definitely provide people with those facility if bike is part of people's daily life. Yup, Indonesia has not established bike culture. Even though many people in small town use bike a lot, but still, inside people's mind, once they get enough money to buy motorcycle they will but motorcycle and leave their bike, once they have enough money to buy car they will definitely buy car and leave their motorcycle.. But i think, considering the global warming issue, the government will think to provide us with bike lane to encourage people to ride their bike instead of drive their car.

Fifth reason, some cities in Indonesia are hilly. Bandung, my second city, lies in a very hilly ground with elevation around 600m above mean sea level. The contour of the city is not friendly for cyclist. People will definitely chose motorcycle and car. I think there are some other cities with same geographical feature. And this is a very strong reason not to ride their bike.

Hmm... I don't think these are all reasons. Maybe there are more.. But it's time to work now.. hehe..