Traffic

Tom Friedman (Yes, I know I’m obsessed with him) writes in Hot, Flat and Crowded about the brutal traffic in India, symptomatic of the rapid development and overpopulation in many regions of the country. While there are many, many more people in India than Indonesia -in the 900 million range - I’ve remembered his words as they translate to the issues faced across Asia including my current home. In my opinion you haven’t lived in Indonesia until you’ve been suffocated uncomfortably by traffic.




Why's everyone always going where I'm going!?

To make traffic matters worse, I have yet to be in any “public” vehicle that is not absolutely full of people. I’ve had to stand on buses that are already crowded with passengers, five seats across. I’ve been in vans which I think should hold 10 people, where the driver to make a few extra bucks, shoves 15-17 people in. So you’re crowded around strangers, with the crazy air pollution seeping in the windows, and if you’re lucky its only 85 degrees.


You can't see it, but there are SEVENTEEN people in this van...

This drives you to think… about A LOT of things. I tried to contemplate what I would consider the WORST traffic ever experienced in the US. I drove one summer from New York to DC for the Fourth of July, normally a four hour drive took about six and a half. Or summer Jersey Shore traffic going back to the city, two and a half hours maybe takes 3.5-4 on the WORST day. In orders of magnitude those trips are hundreds of miles, and on their worst day you are not even doubling the average time spent. Asian traffic puts a whole new perspective on this.

Here are a few examples of the nightmare jams we’ve dealt with here.

Where: Jakarta airport to Bogor
When: returning from Jogja, mid-June, after my first trip to Pacitan
Distance: 30-35 miles
Time spent: a little under three hours.
My analysis: We should have probably known better, as our flight got in right before the evening rush hour home. This route can be quick when there’s not traffic, taking about an hour and ten minutes when the roads are clear. For the most part, Jakarta to Bogor is commuter traffic, but even the trains are so crowded people ride on the roofs. Pick your poison I guess.


True story, these guys must think the roof is their best commuting option.

Where: Bogor to Downtown Jakarta
When: end of July for a 9am meeting with the World Bank
Distance: 25 miles, give or take
Time spent: Two hours.
My analysis: We left around 7:30 and arrived for our meeting around 9:30. People are used to this. Not such unpleasant traffic, we had a driver and air conditioned car, but still a silly amount of time to go this distance

Where: Gede Pangrango National Park back to Bogor
When: this past weekend, returning from our 14+ hour, 2 day hike
Distance: 20 miles
Time spent: 4.5 hours.
My analysis: This broke me. It absolutely broke me. Cibodas, the town where Pangrango National Park is located, is just past Puncak Pass (below) and the roads to touristy Puncak are always slammed on the weekend. When we got off the mountain around 3pm I should have anticipated it, but I was beyond exhausted and could only think about more water, my bed, and finding ice for my legs to soothe the impending world of pain I’d feel the next day (today as I write!). It took us about four different angkots to get home and the final one had me in tears – it took Indo 14 hours of a strenuous hike on little sleep and 4+ hours of traffic to bring me to my breaking point. However, I can happily report that I am able to walk following this trip, but the pain might have been better had my legs not been stuffed in a van for that long.

Puncak Pass
When: early July when we tried to get up the zoo/mountain pass area
Distance: 15 miles, give or take
Time spent: 3 hours, we barely got a quarter of the way to Puncak before we turned around. On a good day it takes about 40 minutes to get all the way. In terms of time and distance traveled, this was probably the least efficient but the hiking fiasco and the pain in my legs was by far the worst for me.