“堵”出來的生意

Announcer： OK. It’s a basic rule of business： go where the customers are. And in some places in the world those customers are stuck in their cars， on the roads， in the middle of traffic jams. Robert Smith was recently in Jakarta， Indonesia. It has some of the worst traffic on the planet， and Robert noticed that， when the cars slow down， the entrepreneurs come out.

Robert： I am standing in the middle of a Jakarta traffic jam， and I’m not the only one here without a car. Over on the left there’s a guy pushing his chicken cart into traffic， 1）clanging his pots. And then， right down the center lane， there are these guys carrying stacks and stacks of nuts and treats and crackers as big as your head， and they’re all trying to get the attention of the drivers.

There is a whole world of commerce inside a Jakarta traffic jam， and the 2）shrewdest businessmen that I met were the teenage boys. You see them at the 3）intersections， standing in sandals and T-shirts， and they are directing traffic for a price. If you want to merge or， say， turn across three lanes of cars， you signal to the boys， and then they go out in traffic and make room for you.

It’s amazing because they’re such skinny little teenagers that they sometimes fit in between trucks that are maybe a foot apart， and this guy brought his own whistle. When you’re through， you toss them a few coins—five cents， ten cents. I managed to get close enough to one of them—he’s 12 years old—Amir， and I asked him， “How much money can you make？”

Amir： （through translator） Yeah， about $7.

Robert： $7 a day. That’s an enormous sum for a kid in Indonesia. Now the Government of Jakarta knows that it looks bad when some of its traffic cops are really 12-year-olds working for tips， so the city is working on some traffic solutions. They’ve built 4）carpool lanes in the center of the city. Hasn’t actually done much to ease traffic， but it has created a whole new kind of business.

I met a woman. Her name is Yi Yis， 23 years old， and she stands on the road just before the carpool lanes， holding up this 5）adorable toddler.

Yi Yis： （through translator） This my daughter， Sophie. She’s two years old.

Robert： And the kid is a clever bit of marketing. The mom explains to me that， if a driver pays her $2， she and the kid will get in the passenger seat. Three people gets you into the carpool lane， and she tells me the baby counts.

On some stretches of road you can see a dozen women， all in a row， all carrying babies， waving three fingers—that’s the sign—at all the single drivers they see.

Now all these entrepreneurs make traffic more bearable， but only one businessman out there can actually get me out of this traffic jam. That’s the Ojeck driver. An Ojeck is a guy with a motorcycle， waiting on the side of the road. For $1 or so， you can hop on the back of the motorcycle and the guy will speed his Ojeck through the tiny spaces in between the cars.

Driver： This Ojeck is very quickly. Robert： Very fast. Driver： Very fast. Robert： Alright， let’s do this thing. Let’s go.

There is no helmet offered. You just hold on tight. And it is terrifying， but， I gotta say， fastest we’ve moved all day.

播音員：好吧，做生意的基本原則是：客戶在哪咱就去哪。而在世界上的某些地方，客戶們正因塞車被堵在路上、困在車里呢。羅伯特·史密斯最近去了印尼的雅加達，那里有著世界上最嚴重的交通堵塞問題。羅伯特發(fā)現，當車輛緩慢下來時，“企業(yè)家”們便出動了。

羅伯特：我現在就站在雅加達的堵塞車流中，這兒不駕車的人可不止我一個。左邊有個賣雞肉的小販正推著他的手推車擠進車流，叮叮當當地敲打著他的鍋盆。而在中間車道那里，有一群人扛著大包小袋的堅果、零食和足有腦袋那么大的薄脆餅。他們都在努力地吸引司機們的注意。

雅加達擁堵的車流中有著一個不折不扣的商業(yè)世界，其中我見識到最精明的商人要數那些十幾歲的男孩們。他們站在十字路口，穿著涼鞋和T恤，通過引導交通來賺錢。如果你想要變更車道，或者想穿過三條車道，你只要示意那些男孩，他們就會走進車流中，為你開路。

很神奇的是，這些瘦骨嶙峋的小孩有時能夠擠進可能只有一英尺之距的卡車之間，這個孩子還帶上了自己的口哨。在車通過之后，你只需扔給他們幾枚硬幣——五美分或者十美分。我設法接近其中一個12歲的小孩，他名叫埃米爾。我問他：“你能賺多少錢？”

埃米爾：（通過翻譯）嗯，大概七美元吧。

羅伯特：每天七美元。在印尼，這對一個小孩來說是很大的一筆錢。雅加達政府意識到，他們的一些交通指揮實際上是為了小費而工作的12歲小屁孩，這看起來確實挺不像樣的，所以他們正致力于一些交通應對措施。他們在城市中心建立了拼車專用道。事實上此舉并沒有怎么緩解交通問題，反而催生了一種全新的生意。

我遇見一個婦女，名叫易·依斯，23歲。她就站在拼車專用道前面的路上，抱著一個可愛的學步兒。

易·依斯：（通過翻譯）這是我的女兒索菲亞，今年兩歲。

羅伯特：這孩子可是個聰明的營銷手段。她媽媽向我解釋說，如果司機付給她兩美元，她就會和孩子坐進乘客座。有三個人，車就可以開上拼車專用道，她告訴我小孩也算數的。

在一些路段你可以看到十幾個婦女站成一排，每個人都手抱孩子，向她們見到的所有沒有乘客的司機揮動三根手指——這是一個標志性手勢。

上面提到的這些商人們使得堵車多少好過了一些，但是，只有另一種商人能夠真正把我弄出這堵塞的車流，那就是“歐捷克”司機。歐捷克就是那些司機騎著的摩托車，他們在路邊等乘客?；ㄉ弦幻涝笥?，你就可以躍上摩托車后座，司機大哥就會騎著他的歐捷克馳騁在車與車之間的小縫中。

司機：這歐捷克非常匆忙。

羅伯特：非?？臁?/p>

司機：對，非常快。

羅伯特：行，就它了！走！

司機大哥沒有給我頭盔，我只能抓緊。這感覺很驚悚，但是，我得說，這是整一天下來我們前進得最快的一次。

翻譯：諸葛小虹