nan | 楠木

Haven’t really blogged in English for a while, except writing film posts. Try my hand here on a topic essay, since I’m taking TOEFL tomorrow.

I want to talk about the virtue of standardization, that is, of having a product or a process conform to a widely accepted set of standards.

I was recently in Jakarta (and will be spending some more time there the next two months). Jakarta has a very unique mass transit system, the Transjakarta. Essentially, it’s a high speed bus system that enjoys an closed lane and only stops at major destinations – it’s purpose is to serve passengers who need to travel around the sprawling metropolis fast. What’s most interesting about this system though, is the buses themselves – they are largely not different from your normal buses, but the doors and the seats are elevated – the door is a full 1.5 meters above ground (my estimate).

And therefore the bus stops are special too. They are also elevated platforms.

There might be some reasons for this elevated height (though I can’t really think of too many reasons that stand scrutiny), but one downside immediately comes to mind – this design (which doesn’t follow regular bus design standards) probably costs more to produce (since it’s unique). Worse, it confines future upgrades (for example new buses) to this system to either stick to this design or replace all the terminals. Future choices have been vastly limited.

It could be though, that this is exactly the point. I’m thinking crooked officials receiving kickbacks to impose this locked-down system, which is another form of monopoly for the supplier.