A little observation

A few days ago I learned something interesting. In the mornings and in the evenings, poor-looking people stand by a big street close to my place and hold their index finger up in the air as if trying to stop a taxi. But I don't think they'd actually afford a taxi, and if they would, why would they all be standing there by the streetside, like 5-10 metres between each of them.

I have had a lot of different speculations about their intentions. Either they try to make you stop your car there, then rob you, or they sell something illegal from their pockets, or they are prostitutes (well, there are also men amongst them). The other day, on my way to a meeting, I drove past this place again with one of our embassy drivers and finally remembered to ask what these people are doing and why are they standing here.

And he said, that the street in question leads to a bigger and busier street with some traffic regulations: during the worst rush hours, cars are supposed to have at least three passengers to be allowed to use those streets. It's a way to keep the number of cars down. So if you are going to drive on one of these regulated streets but have less than three passengers in your car, to avoid a possible fine from the police, you can pick up one of these people standing by the roadside and voilà. For this service, you would pay maybe something like 10 000 rupiahs (75 cents) for that person. Then the person takes a cheap bus back to his starting location and waits for the next car, which has too few passengers, to pick him up.

The police doesn't inspect cars with diplomatic plates nor taxis, so that's why this regulation hasn't really concerned me. But this is actually how some Jakartans make their income. I've never seen a car haul and pick up any of those persons.