Pronounced “Bajay”

The city council have tried many times to get rid of the cities “notorious three-wheeled, toxic-belching Bajaj pedicab” but it seems the owners have other ideas.




Although not the biggest polluters on the streets, they are certainly the most annoying with the high pitched two stroke whine, broken or non existent exhaust pipes and a propensity for nipping in and out of the traffic flow as it pleases them. The steering system is variable, dependant upon which piece of scrap the owner has deemed fit for purpose, tyres are probably bought directly from Sumatran rubber plantations and have neither tread nor can the be inflated and the interior décor looks remarkably like a student house shitter, the only difference is there is no cistern and a lack of toilet brush.


Ironically, they are the best suited for many commuters as they can access the rat runs which cars cannot and those citizens that rely on them appear unhappy with any attempts to remove them from the streets.

However, the owners have, it seems had enough. A few weeks ago about 160 Bajaj drivers staged a demonstration outside city hall in Central Jakarta, demanding that the city still allow them to operate.

Another first for Jakarta, a Bajaj strike, presumably this coincided with a drop in pollution levels similar to those experienced in Beijing during the Olympics when the traffic in the city was halved.

Earlier that day, the drivers drove in convoy down Jl. Jenderal Sudirman, the city's main road, which is normally forbidden to them, the police allowing the drivers to do so freely as they were demonstrating.



The official number of Bajaj operating in the city is 14,000, but, as with all records here one could probably double this figure and still be none the wiser.

The administration’s main problem is that they planned to replace all of them with newer, greener Bajaj that run on compressed natural gas. Great initiative but they failed to consider the fact that the existing owners could not afford the new vehicles, could not afford the CNG (current Bajaj run on used chip pan oil with a spoonful of diesel) and perhaps more importantly, it appears that one cannot buy them anyway as there seems to be a problem with the importation of the new vehicles. (Not enough brown envelopes I think)



By the end of 2007, there were reportedly only around 250 of the newer Bajaj in operation, thus, making them almost as rare as the Javan Rhinoceros. If anyone has seen one, please send me a photograph…………but for the meantime, the noxious Bajaj and Jakarta will continue to have their love / hate relationship with each other.

EDIT: Ramsa seent this link
http://jakartadailyphoto.com/index.php/2008/05/13/bbg-bajaj/

And here is the eco friendly Bajaj



With it's less friendly brothers still plying their trade in South Jakarta