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Weekly 5: Five occupations to avoid Jakarta rush hours
Working in an inner city office from nine to five means dealing with Jakartaâs notorious rush hours every day
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em>Working in an inner city office from nine to five means dealing with Jakarta's notorious rush hours every day.
People with private vehicles often wake up early to avoid the traffic while those who rely on public transportation must also compete with a million others to get a seat on trains or buses.
Some people try to avoid a frustrating commute by living as near as possible to their offices while others simply prefer different jobs. Here are five occupations that are perfect for those who do not wish to face the gridlock every day:
Freelancers
Being a freelancer in Jakarta has many advantages, including creating your own work schedules and organizing your own meetings.
Adrian Pasaribu, 27-year-old freelance writer and film journalist, said that he usually started work or held meetings in the afternoon to evening. He also preferred working at night if he had lots of things to do.
'I usually avoid places like Cikini [in Central Jakarta] which are affected by the three-passenger-minimum rule or Fatmawati area [in South Jakarta] because of the hellish traffic for meeting venues,' he said.
Adrian, who lives in Kalibata in South Jakarta, said he was rarely stuck in traffic as he usually waited for the congestion to ease before going anywhere. 'Fortunately, my colleagues and clients usually live or work near my house, which is in Pasar Minggu and Kemang, both in South Jakarta,' he said.
Journalists
JP/Ricky Yudhistira
Although journalists work in the field and frequently have to travel from one place to another, the schedule of most journalists allows them to leave homes after morning rush hour is over and go home later at night unless they have a rare morning appointment.
Journalist Linda Hairani said although she sometimes had to travel to meet with sources in the morning, she did not have to join the torturous standard office hours commute.
'I can write my articles anywhere, so I do not have to go to my office on a daily basis,' she said.
Entrepreneurs
'Being your own boss' is one of the most important reason people choose to be entrepreneurs as they can determine their working location and hours by themselves.
Nowadays, many entrepreneurs run their business online. They can work from anywhere; all they need is good Internet speed.
Those who have physical workplaces or need to be mobile can still beat the traffic by modifying their working hours. Vegetable mobile vendors, for example, buy from the wholesale market at night and start to go around very early in the morning. They finish selling their vegetables at noon.
Lecturers
University lecturers, unlike school teachers, do not work from nine to five, and have a more relaxed schedule.
Aisyah, a psychology lecturer at a private university in Lenteng Agung, South Jakarta said her schedule was very accommodating.
'I usually depart for work at 7:30 or 9 a.m., sometimes even 11 a.m. depending on the class schedule. Then I leave the office at 5:00 p.m.,' Aisyah told The Jakarta Post.
Although sometimes she has to commute during rush hour, she is rarely caught in the traffic because she travels in the opposite direction to most commuters.
While most commuters head from Lenteng Agung to Sudirman and Thamrin in Central Jakarta, Aisyah would instead travel from Sudirman to Lenteng Agung. Aisyah said that if she has to commute during rush hours she takes online ojek (motorcycle taxi) services such as Go-jek.
Artists
Despite traffic jams in the city, artists like Putri Ayu Lestari can still express themselves within flexible working hours.
Ayu, 24, a visual designer who uses the pseudonym Kobelita, is currently preparing for an exhibition next month in Tebet, South Jakarta. She said she commutes around 21 kilometers from her home in Ciledug, South Tangerang, to Tebet to make her artwork, which revolves around the theme of transportation.
She said that she did not have trouble with traffic in the capital, as she chose to commute after rush hour to avoid traffic, while working on her pieces for the exhibition.
'Because my working hours are mostly flexible, I prefer to go to Tebet after 9 a.m. and go home after 10 p.m.,' said Ayu, adding that she frequently traveled with application-based ojek.
