Taxi

It is well known that advantages of taking taxi instead of using a personal car are you don’t have to worry about finding a parking space and you don’t have to pay for insurance, gas or repairs.

It is an easy way to get taxis in Jakarta, especially when you are at the major roads. They can be found in taxi queues at malls and hotels, or flagged down off the street with a wave of your hand. It is also customary to send your household staff to a nearby main road and they'll bring a taxi back to the house for you. Alternatively, you can phone the taxi company and they will send a taxi to your home. This is usually not as quick as flagging one down off the street, but if you are willing to wait, you can be assured of getting a taxi from a reputable company. Determine which taxi company has its “pool” closest to your point of departure. You'll probably get a taxi much quicker from them.

There are several reputable taxi companies, ones you can be sure offer good service and safer drivers. These include Silver Bird, Blue Bird, Gamya,  Express, Transcab, and others. Silver Bird taxis are most easily located at five-star hotels or you can call for home pick up as well. Silver Bird can also be rented for out-of-town trips to Anyer, Carita, Pelabuhan Ratu, Bandung and beyond.

Taxis are recognizable by their colors - black for Silver Bird, white for Express, green for Gamya, Orange for Transcab  and blue for Blue Bird.

Taking a taxi in Jakarta is a true cultural experience. The drivers have their hands on the pulse of Jakarta and can be the source of lots of helpful information. Ask your driver how he feels about events in the news, and you'll get some very interesting responses. These conversations offer the expatriate unique insight into how the Indonesian masses feel about social issues of the day.

The foremost fear of newcomers is not being able to explain in Bahasa Indonesia where they want to go to the driver. Solutions are: use the Silver Bird taxis whose drivers speak some English, write down the address on a piece of paper and have your household staff be sure the driver knows your destination before you leave the house or use the taxi's radio operator to translate to your driver as the radio operators usually speak fair English. Obviously the long term solution to this problem is to learn Bahasa Indonesia!