Street singer...entertainment on the bus

One of the longest entertainment on the bus is street singers.

All my life spent on the bus, I hardly ever been able to enjoy their voice... Most of them were unpleasant to be heard. But then again, how in the heck we the passengers able to listen to their singing if we are dead tired from standing there too long, sweaty and greasy. Even if we are able to sit, the blasting horn and other cars engine from outside the bus are louder. Plus, most of the street singers were barely screaming or even mumbling (I even thought that they were not street singers) not so clear what they are up to. Can you imagine the ears of those passengers have to hear the sound of cars, engine, the cracking voice of street signer and to complete everything the sound of music full blasting from the driver. No, the driver is not singing. If he become street singer then who would drive the bus? But the driver turn on the music and the loud speaker...may compete with those concerts held in Ancol.

Street singers could turn nasty if we the passengers refuse to give them money. Over and over again, they would say that by giving them 500 Rupiahs will not make us poor. yeah, but when it comes to give money then it is up to us, right? Probably their bad luck if there is no passengers want to give them money as for all the way of that route there were dozens of street singers before them. If we give 500 Rupiahs to 10 street singers, wow it would amounted to 5,000 Rupiahs. Not bad, we could buy chocolate bread for our evening snacks.

But not all street singers are annoying, several of them can really entertain us or make us smile...like the following :

1. Street singers with two memorized songs
At first I did not really pay attention what that street singer sang about. Well, I have shut my ears with IPOD ever since I got out from the house and therefore I do not care whatsoever with around me. But once in a while I took off the IPOD and that was the moment I heard what he was singing about. Every day I used the same bus at approximately same hours. It turn out the street singers operated at that same hour. Soon enough I finally realized that he could only sang two different songs. Like for example, on Monday he sang Only You and the next day he sang Because of You. Later on Wednesday he is back singing Only You and so on...
Pretty smart. The most important he memorized two songs only so he could sing it from the heart

2. My friend told me about the story which made me laugh when try to imagine it...
My friend's husband told her that he once saw a street singer furious to be given 500 Rupiahs and thrown back the money to the passengers who give it to hi,. He said, hopefully I translate this correctly," Goodness, I was only worth as much as 500 Rupiahs! Didn't they see me singing with vibration and has nailed the feeling of it?"
LOL... What a stuck up street singer

3. Under age street singers sang in terrible English
When I heard him for the first time, I was in between laughing and touched. I feel sorry, he is still so young but has to earn money by being street singer. So, we the passengers did not hesitate to give him money. But when the next time we saw him again, repeating his tactic by singing the same song with the exact same way as before, over and over again...we just bored finally and in the end not giving him money anymore.

4. Street singer with screeching voice
Yeap, this one try to hit the high notes and blew it. Terrible. But, did he give up? Of course not. He clearing his throat and then started to sing the song right from the beginning...and totally failed once more. That was the moment he caught passenger's attention. Including me who also tried to have a look at that street singer. I pay attention to him from the very beginning...and still he got slip on that high notes. This time he gracefully bowed and said that was it and after saying goodbye to all the laughing passengers he walked out from the bus.
What a street singer! He failed, and then tried again, failed once more and he did not even ask for a compensation at all. Was this only a trick to gain fans? Do not know, as I have never seen him again. Or to be precise, I have never heard any street singer slip while singing high notes and resigning themselves without ask for money.

5. The street singer who get too comfy inside the bus
This one really enjoying his singing time on the bus without even bothered whether we the passengers already getting bored or giving him money. I even heard the driver's assistant yelled at him," Oi, get it done quick! You almost run out passengers!"

By the way, the below picture is not mine. I got it from kolomkita.detik.com after browsing on Google 

TransJakarta Express

Dear all,

Hopefully the below link will be useful for all of you busway's users ;)

10 new routes

Queuing separation

When they started to separate queuing between men and women on busway's bus stop and terminal, I could only laugh...

Not that I do not appreciate what they were trying to do to prevent sexual harassment that has been going on for ages. However queuing separation will never be able run smoothly if:

1. BUSY HOUR
It is peak hour, busy hour, crazy hour. The hour when people want to leave home for work, school. The hour when people leaving school and office to go home. All come together in the exact same time. People instinctively going to search no matter how tiny space that giving them even the smallest chance to get in the first line from the queuing. If necessary, they will bring rope and hanging around in front of the rolling door at the bus stop for busway in order to be able to get on the bus ahead from other people. If they are able to get on the bus first, then they will be able to choose which seat they want to sit on. Otherwise, they could choose which corner they could just stand without being squeezed by others. So, if the line for women's queuing is a bit empty during the peak hours then those men will never care less. If people already over crowded, the officials in charge finding a hard time to keep the rule. The people will becoming more fierce. And the official probably think, oh what the heck... It is you who is going to fall not me.
Out from the peak hour, then there are less people and therefore automatically they becoming calm and just follow the rule without being told to.

2. TINY SPACE
Before they started to apply the rule, please be informed that the space on the terminal and bus stop for busway are tiny. Do not imagine that the space is as grand as terminal for train (please be reminded that they built those places in the middle of the road)
So, how can they arrange separation between men and women regarding to queue?


Good intention to have this kind of rule. Unfortunately is not really that easy to be applied. As it will be up to the user, will they agree to follow the rule? Will they agree to be told what to do in order to obey the rule? Mostly...not really... Come on! Admit it...! (just like me when panicking in rush for home as soon as possible)

User Friendly...NOT

I once read busway created to be user friendly especially for people with disability. Yeah, right...

The truth is, none of public transportation in Jakarta are user friendly for :

1. people with disability
2. Pregnant women
3. Elderly

When I was fighting my way into the bus, there was an elderly in front of me... Also struggling to get in along with dozen ruthless people (sad to say, including me)... Then she suddenly shrieked, saying that she has lost her flip flop. Can you imagine how panic she was? She was about to get on the bus, however there was no way she left her flip flop and going home with only one on her foot. So, eventually she gave in otherwise she could fall down and got stomped by others. That's the difficulty to get on the bus. If the passengers wants to get off, the driver's assistant will definitely help by pushing them out of the bus. So, when we are trying to get on the bus they treated us like cattle hurriedly told to get in. But when we are trying to get off, they treated us like trash to be throw away as soon as possible.

Nowadays, I think the situation will get even harder as the traffic jam seems hitting the street at any time and any place. Usually, traffic jam only happened at certain time. Like when people rushing to go the office and school in the morning. And when the time the are trying to go home as soon as possible.

For people with disability, to use the busway they also have to remember which bus stop that allowing them to move without difficulty. Only few bus stops for busway that are not too big and they are most definitely will find it hard to move around the transit terminal. And when they are inside the crowded busway, it will be even harder to do anything. And I even noticed that when the buses all over crowded, people could not care less about elderlies, pregnant women, let alone people with disability.

Maybe another years to come...to have user friendly public transportation. That if Jakarta does not sinking under the sea first as many people predicted.

Safety problem

Using public transportation in Jakarta is sort of a dilemma. If it was full, we feel very annoyed. Aside that we are suffering from the heat, we are stuck in the middle with dozen of people, totally exhausted as we do not get a seat and have to stand for quiet some times. And surely do not forget about pickpocket. Not to mention people with demented hobby by doing sexual harassment on the bus. With all of that, we then start to dream if only that public transportation is not so crowded. We would not feel like we were rush when we we are about to get on or get off. We do not have to get squeezed by other passengers or their belongings.

But, once we get on an empty bus or other public transportation...we would be lying if we did not feel worry. A few years ago there were cases of hold-up inside illegal public transportation. I said illegal because they are actual personal vehicle transformed without legal permit into public transportation. Perhaps sort of hitch hiking. But people who hitch hiking does not need to pay the fare. While this one, people will pay the fare to the driver. Most people prefer this kinda transportation. As, most of the passengers going to the same direction and soon become familiar to one another. But, few years ago...there were people pretend to be the driver and passengers in this illegal transportation. Then robbed the real passengers. So, the question when we get on the not so crowded public transportation...are these all real passengers or not?

Well, to be honest I can not give you tips other than to follow our own instinct. Usually our instinct hardly makes mistake though from other people's point of view we could be labeled to paranoid or fabricating a situation that not exist.

If we are already inside a public transportation and feel something not right, do not hesitate to get off even though our destination still far from being close. Don't worry about the fare as it would be nothing compare with other losses. Such as mentally; being shocked after the crime took place. Or naturally material looses that would take more rather than just the fare.

Once I decide to get off from a taxi as I felt that the driver kinda annoying. He kept on opposing all the direction that I have told him to take. Finally I decide to get off near my friend's home and just get another taxi. I did not mind loosing the fare rather than being agitated all the way home.

Often we heard recommendation from people about "bad" taxis and "Good" taxis. Though is good to have recommendation like this, but not always guarantee us safety and comfort.

Obviously when we go together with bunch of people, slim chance that we all going to be robbed by the driver and his accomplice. But when we are alone then we need to be extra careful. And trust our instinct. Plus, prays...a lot.