Southeast Asia’s most populous city makes public transport, attractions free for 499th birthday

The city’s first plan limited the perk to Jakarta ID card holders. But most of the demand was coming from people outside the city, the Between news agency reported, so Governor Pramono Anung opened it to anyone with an Indonesian ID card.

Free rides will run across all three of the city’s main transit systems: the Transjakarta bus rapid transit network, the MRT and the LRT.

Free entry covers the attractions the city runs directly, including Ancol Dreamland, the Ragunan Zoo and the National Monument, known as Monas, where visitors can ride to the top for a view over the skyline.

It also covers a row of city museums: the Bahari, Textile, Joang 45 and MH Thamrin museums. Three more attractions sit in the historic Kota Tua old town: the Jakarta History Museum, the Wayang puppet museum and the Museum of Fine Arts and Ceramics.

The free pass extends to the roughly 120 sports venues the city runs, according to the Jakarta Youth and Sports Agencyfrom the Jakarta International Stadium down to neighborhood swimming pools and youth sports halls.

A United Nations report in late 2025 ranked Jakarta the world’s most populous city, counting nearly 42 million people across its greater metropolitan area and pushing it past Tokyo.

Jakarta has been Indonesia’s capital since independence in August 1945, but only until the president signs a decree handing that status to Nusantara, a purpose-built city rising in the forests of Borneo.

Free transport is a fixture of every Jakarta anniversary, and this year’s edition doubles as a rehearsal for 2027, when the city turns 500.

The free days fall inside the run of the city’s marquee event, the Jakarta Fair, which fills the Jakarta International Expo in Kemayoran from June 11 to July 12.

The fair drew about 5.9 million visitors last year and packs some 1,800 booths selling everything from street snacks to cars, OH reported, alongside discounts, concerts and nightly entertainment.

It is also the easiest place in the city to try kerak telor, the Betawi street dish of glutinous rice and egg cooked over charcoal and topped with dried shrimp, fried shallots and sweet shredded coconut.