Heading toward the city's three-in-one zones during rush hour, you will find a familiar sight: people lined up along the curb, pointing their hands toward cars, hoping to be picked up.

They are traffic jockeys.

They will jump in private cars disguised as passengers, so the cars can pass through the three-in-one zones - where only cars with at least three passengers can travel.

After exiting the zone, the jockeys get out of the cars and get paid by the motorists.

"I can earn around Rp 50,000 or more a day to help my parents," said 17-year-old Novi, who has been a traffic jockey for four years. "It is enough, but it is not too much though."

She said she was usually picked up by four or five cars a day. She works both morning and afternoon rush hours, and goes to school between the rush hours.

"I usually earn more in the afternoon. Sometimes I get Rp 50,000 from one car," she said, waiting for the first car to pick her up in the middle of a rainy morning on Jl. Gatot Subroto.

Yanah, another jockey, does not have the same luck.

"I am lucky if I can get two cars to pick me up a day," said the woman, who brings along her 2-year-old daughter Fauzia.

She said she became a jockey because she could not find another job to support her family.

While the traffic jockeys can still offer their services openly without afraid of being chased by the police, calo or middlemen at the city's Integrated Service Office (Samsat) cannot.

They have to play a cat-and-mouse game with officers these days, with the police intensifying its crackdown as part of its bureaucratic reform campaign. But they still wander around the office, often working other jobs.

They still receive orders from applicants wanting to speed up the application procedure, up to hundreds a day sometimes.

"I usually ask for between Rp 550,000 and Rp 570,000 per applicant. Just give me the copy of your ID card and a photograph, and I will do the rest," said a calo working in the cafeteria.

In fact, both the traffic jockeys and the driving license middlemen exist because people still need them.

"I want my son to get his driving license quickly. I also heard that it was difficult to pass the tests, so I looked for a calo," said a Cipinang resident, who accompanied her son to the Samsat to get a driver's license.

"Actually, it is better to get rid of the calo because it is an unfair practice. But on the other hand, the bureaucracy should be streamlined."

A traffic police officer patrolling around the Harmoni intersection, Brig. Rahmadi, said, "Police cannot forbid jockeys. We understand that they need the job to make a living.

"Besides, it is the city administration's responsibility *to take care of the jockey issues*."

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