My "Jockey"

I've been travelling quite a bit for work lately.  Last week, I was in Jakarta for meetings, and had an interesting experience on my way to the office.  First of all, I should explain that in Asia, you do not rent a car.  Usually, a company car is allocated to you for the time of your visit, as the "road rules" are slightly different in many of the places I visit.  I would say the difference between driving in the US, and, say, Jakarta or Ho Chi Minh City is that in the US, there are signs and rules.  In Jakarta or HCMC, there are signs, but no rules.  Driving yourself in some of these cities would be a bad, bad idea.  (and, yes, husband, that includes scooters!). 

Anyways, I left one of our factories, which is a little ways out of Jakarta, in the back seat of a stylin' minivan.  It was just the driver and I in the car... until we pulled over and picked up a young girl.  I couldn't figure out what was going on.  Was this the driver's daughter?  Was this a way that people get around (the public transit in Jakarta is lacking to say the least, so this was a viable idea)?  No one in the car spoke English, so I just sat there and had a mini-panic attack.  Hello, gal from the Midwest in a big city in Asia.  I texted Brian, who was a little nervous to say the least, and also the Country Manager, who quickly texted me back and said this was normal.  It's called the "Jockey system".  Basically, during certain hours, to enter into the center of Jakarta, there is a requirement to have at least 3 people in your car.  I THINK this was probably put into place to reduce traffic, but what it has done instead is to create a whole new money-making opportunity for young people with nothing else to do.  Basically, people wait outside the city center, holding out a finger to indicate that they are willing to "jockey".  The car slows down (which, by the way, certainly doesn't help the traffic situation they were trying to avoid), picks up the jockey, and they make their way to the city.  When the driver arrives to the destination, the jockey hops out, the driver pays the jockey (not a lot, but enough for an inexpensive meal), and the deal is done.  I had to do this a few times while I was there, but knew after the first time not to panic. 

Such a different world out here... can you imagine a "jockey" system in the US to use the HOV lane?  Granted, I remember when people had cardboard cut-outs and blow-up dolls, but I seriously cannot imagine a black market for extra passengers.  hehe - just a glimpse into my world.  If you are in Jakarta and a stranger gets in your car, fear not.