Paid Hitchhiker
There is one word to describe the situation in Jakarta streets these days: traffic frenzy! Heavy-weight-traffic jam drives every street user in Jakarta crazy. The poor public transportation service is always pointed as the cause.
For some people, the rule for 3-in-1 in ten streets since from 7-10am and 4-7pm, is useless.
Those streets are Sisingamangaraja, Sudirman, MH. Thamrin, Gatot Subroto, Medan Merdeka Barat, Majapahit, Gajah Mada, Pintu Besar Selatan, Pintu Besar Utara, and Hayam Wuruk.
Cars, except taxi, that passed to those streets should carry at least three passengers including the driver.
Usually hitchhiking is gained by asking people, usually strangers, for a ride in their car to travel a distance that may either be short or long.
But in Jakarta, hitchhiker is the one who got paid. These paid hitchhikers called joki 3-in-1. In any common of Indonesian word, joki means replacement. They use a gesture where the index finger is pointed at the road or give thumbs up gesture.
Live as Paid Hitchhiker
The paid hitchhikers stand up along the 3-in-1 street. They usually dress in proper and received approximately $1-2 per ride. This is a niche market as the job field become more competitive.
These paid hitchhikers triggered another problem. A small number of cases emerged in which some of them had been a victim of sexual abuse and violence from the car owner they rode.
This job is quite risky, considered it is illegal and the highway police are in everywhere. But they endured with money as their reason.
The Future of Paid Hitchhiker
The car owners need these paid hitchhikers. Give $1-2 for these people is less than pay the ticket. Some car owners who never use the paid hitchhiker service, prefer to ask their housekeeper and (or) their house maid to ride in their car and send them back home with public transportation.
For the last two years, the traffic jam in Jakarta is getting frenzy. Authority reviewed the rule of 3-in-1 and questioned the effectiveness. If the 3-in-1 rule is finally removed, what happens to the paid hitchhiker? Authority of Jakarta is getting more serious to solve this traffic frenzy.
Not every cars use paid hitchhiker services. Mostly paid hitchhikers are bread winner. They’re living at minimum quality life standard. When the sales of motorcycle continue to rise up, the car riders are getting less, it is about time for the paid hitchhikers to seek another ‘job’.
Photo: Kompas, ncellina.blogspot.com / Text: Indoflick / Paid Hitchhiker
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