[BAHASA INGGRIS NIAGA] April 16, 2010

Public Transportation in Medan

Medan is one of the biggest city in Indonesia. We know that a lot of people live in
Medan. They work, study, and shopping in this city. But, the problem to do that is they can do
that in one area, they must study in school, work in office, or shopping in supermarket. If they
want to go to that place, they will need vehicle. But, not all of them have their own vehicle. So,
they need a public transportation. Public transportation is a transportation service which are
available for use by the general public. In Medan, we call that angkot. Angkot likes minivan that
can load many people. We can go from one place to another just only with Rp.3.000, 00.they can
easily recognized it from its yellow color, besides blue. It stops wherever the passengers want ,
as long as it is still in the route because there is no particular bus stop for it. Angkot contributes
quite a lot to the bad traffic jam in town. Everybody knows angkot but not all of them want to
ride it. Do you know why? One of the reasons is angkot makes a very noisy sound that all of the
people don’t like it.

If they don’t want to use angkot, they can use becak. it is also known by a variety of other
names such as pedicab, bikecab, cyclo, becak, or trishaw. There are two type of becak in Medan.
First, we know that becak dayung. Becak dayung is pulled by a person on foot. Another type of
becak is becak motor. Becak motor is becak which use motorcycle to operate. Both becak
dayung and becak motor can load only 2 or 3 passengers. Becak in Medan has its own
characteristic. The characteristic is the passenger seats are usually located beside the driver. In
Jakarta, the passenger seat is located behind the driver on a tricycle while the driver sits behind
the passenger seat on a tricycle in Jogjakarta. if they want to ride becak, they can’t find that in
everyplace in Medan because there are some streets that becak is restricted. They can’t ride it in
Sudirman Street. Becak is not only in Indonesia. We can find it in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam,
and Philippine

Another transportation that they can use to go to the area that they want is bus. Bus is a
road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can load from 8 to 30 passengers. Buses are
widely used public transportation. The most common type of bus in Medan is the single-decker
bus. Buses play a major part in the tourism industry. Many tourists use bus to sightseeing around
Medan. One of the well-known bus’ brands is Damri and Sumatera Transport. They can use that

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to go to the outside city like Brastagi and Parapat. Beside that, buses used to student’s
transportation. Some big schools like Prime One School use bus for its students’ transportation.

If we want using public transportation in Medan, here are some tips that I can suggest.
First, Do not carry too many packages and too much money. Then, Take a look at the driver, if
you don't feel safe, you can get out from that public transportation. If you use taxi, you must sit
on the left side of the back seat and not behind the driver. There have been cases where the driver
pushed his seat back and trapped people sitting right behind him. Before the taxi moves, check
your door. Can you open it from inside? If not, tell the driver to stop. If you use Angkot, you
must wait Angkot in that stop. Don’t stop that in any place because it can make traffic jam. You
must always remember to bring money because you must pay if you want to use public
transportation. That’s all the tips that a can suggest. Have a nice trip with your public
transportation.