JP/R. Berto Wedhatama

Battling Jakarta'€™s notorious traffic jams is a Herculean challenge; anything and anyone that helps motorists in their fight can be considered a '€œtraffic hero'€. We'€™ve compiled a list of five traffic heroes in the capital:

Traffic apps

In this era of smart gadgets, relying on smartphone applications to beat the traffic is very common. Among popular apps that can help Jakartans are Waze, Easytaxi and Grabtaxi.

Waze, a GPS-based geographical navigation application for smartphones, provides turn-by-turn information and user-submitted travel times and route details. Meanwhile, Grabtaxi and Easytaxi are automated location-based smartphone booking and dispatch platforms. The apps allow users to book a taxi and track it in real time.

'€œEvery time I use the app to book a taxi, the driver tells me how the app has helped them and encourages me to continue using the app. It'€™s a useful app for anyone who can'€™t face driving in Jakarta,'€ Aprilia, a tech company employee, said on Thursday.

Traffic police officers

Around 1,500 traffic police officers are deployed on a daily basis to observe the city'€™s roads and keep an eye out for traffic-law violators.

Jakarta Traffic Police operational unit head Adj. Sr. Comr. Budiyanto said that the officers worked in two shifts; from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. They are equipped with police batons, torches and extra batteries.

'€œTheir job is to make sure that traffic runs smoothly and to assist road-users. Furthermore, they have to keep an eye out for traffic-law violators, such as motorcyclists who don'€™t wear helmets,'€ he said.

Traffic police officers are considered to help lessen the city'€™s notorious traffic jams, and also help pedestrians cross the roads.

Despite the occasional criticism directed toward them, without traffic police, the roads would turn into an even bigger mess at rush hour.

Social media accounts

Twitter accounts relaying information and updates on traffic such as @TMCPoldaMetro and @lewatmana have become very popular among motorists.

TMC regularly updates real-time traffic conditions around the city 24 hours a day based on reports from police officers, motorists and CCTV footage.

TMC always describes the cause of a traffic jam and often displays pictures on @TMCPoldaMetro.

Civilians can also call directly on 021-52960770 to ask the TMC operators to check the traffic conditions on specific routes. The operators then contact police officers on that particular route and check CCTV footage before reporting back to the requester and offering an alternative route.

The account @lewatmana uses a similar approach, but is managed by a private company.

Traffic wardens

When the main roads are jam-packed with vehicles, motorists usually resort to taking short cuts, rerouting their trip to smaller roads and causing traffic jams in other areas. When this occurs, local residents take the initiative and act as informal traffic police, regulating stubborn motorists . Though it is not a legal practice, their existence is arguably helpful.

JP/Ricky Yudhistira
These makeshift traffic posts, manned by two or three local '€œwardens'€, are often not shy about scolding motorcyclists who insist on going first and triggering traffic gridlock.

Radio

Despite the rapid development of technology and smart gadgets, motorists can still rely on the radio to get traffic news updates. News stations like Elshinta and lifestyle radio stations usually dedicate one or two slots in their prime-time programs to relay traffic updates, realizing that most of their listeners tune in to their broadcasts while driving. '€” JP