On my last Sunday there I was treated to this double rainbow… as seen from my room in Hotel National.
I have been back in Jakarta for only a few days but have spent several hours already in gridlock. And in unexpected locations and unusual times.
This is of course, long after the protest actions against the announced increase in the price of petrol and the torrential rains that had a devastating effect on traffic flow!
The worst case was on Sudirman. I was stuck in the slow lane and speeds were measured in mph, meters per hour, not miles. The fast lane was moving along nicely, OK, not racing, but driving in second or third gear. Openings from the slow to the fast lane are few and far between, but all except the last one before Semanggi were blocked by concrete blocks and a few policemen. Such a waste of road space, if half of the cars in the slow lane would have been allowed onto the main lanes all lanes could have been moving.
So I think I'll try one more time. In a previous post I called it "Let's advise the traffic controllers…" The response to this call for cases of regulations that actually strangle the flow, not improve it, was zero-nil-zilch-nothing-nix-nada as readers in Jakarta, and outside, remained mum.
But let's give it another try. This time I'll call it "Let's start an association of concerned car users in jakarta (accu)" and with the right backing we will be able to have a say in the way traffic is regulated in Jakarta. We might even promise the authorities that we will accept an increase in the price of petrol of 1000 or even 4500 Rupiah (a doubling of the current price) if those in charge of traffic control were instructed to listen to accu and use a participatory approach to improve the traffic system.
The first thing to do will, of course, be designing a catching bumper sticker, or in line with common practice, a rear-window stickers. Anyone…? For a small fee of 30% of revenue accu will grant you sole sticker-rights, a sure way to mint money.
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