on traffic jam in jakarta

ah jakartaaa... semakin rame aja kota ini. kota dimana rate naeknya orang yang punya kendaraan bermotor ga sebanding ama banyaknya jalan yang ada. kota yang kebutuhan untuk bikin mall nya lebih penting daripada ngerapiin rumah2 kumuh yang makin hari makin tergusur keberadaannya.

waktu gue baru balik, gue ngerasa kalo jakarta emang lebih rame. tapi untuk tiga bulan pertama gue disini, gue ga terlalu merhatiin itu dengan detail karena gue hanya nyetir mobil di siang hari yang notabene emang ga macet2 amat. baru ketika gue mulai kerja lah gue mulai ngerasain kemacetan lalu lintas yang gila2an. tapi karena gue udah lama banget ga ngerasain itu.. gue sih enjoy2 aja.. apalagi gue pikir gue udah make mobil yang automatic, jadi ga masalah dong. tapi sodara2 pemirsa.. tidak begitu kiranya setelah 6 bulan! gue malah jadi stress berat.. and not because of work.. tapi karena traffic jam!

dan kayaknya kalo gue perhatiin sih.. traffic jam di jakarta tuh makin parah deh makin hari. coba liat nih kronologi gue:

10 years ago: high school years
i left home by 6AM, got to school (in sisingamangaraja, just off sudirman) before 7AM
there were 2 points of traffic jam: ciputat & radio dalam
i was driving a stick shift and i wasn't stressed out on the road
there were less angkot & busses and definitely less motorbikes

10 years later: current time
i left home by 6AM, got to work (in sudirman)around 7.30ish
points of traffic jam: lebak bulus, pondok indah (OMG!! so freaking ridiculously bad!), arteri pondok indah, pejompongan, casablanca. there you go, there are 5 points and that's basically all the routes i'm taking to work!
i'm driving automatic and i'm really stressed out.. even after i got myself a driver
there are definitely angkots & busses everywhere, and they would stop at any "pengkolan" they see, couldn't care less of the milestone traffic they created behind them
motorbikes sworm like ants, literally .. and they would block all roads.


pokoknya parah banget dehhh.. even on saturdays, i still have to experience the traffic jam. belom lagi di jalur jalanan rumah gue itu, sekarang udah dibangun 2 mall gede.. yang tentunya bikin macet!! pondok indah mall 2 udah jadi.. and the image of pondok indah you once had, the nice quiet living place for the riches, no longer exists, cuz everywhere you go in pondok indah in the morning.. you'll definitely see traffic jam! yep, it's that bad.

i tried having conversation with a friend about this. and no matter how long we discuss it.. we agree on one thing. it's too complicated in every angle, we don't even know where to begin *sigh*. and i think.. that one-hour range i usually prepare myself to go anywhere in jakarta (for example, gue janjian ketemuan di PS jam 2, so that means i'd leave home by 1) it doesn't exist anymore.. i have to modify the range to 2-hours range now.. how sad to be spending (well, wasting) all these time on the road. really.. it's just sad!

kapan ya jakarta bisa bebas macet?