JAKARTA, Indonesia  When this city of epic traffic jams started carpooling a while back, it inadvertently gave birth to an entirely new profession: jockey.

For less than a dollar, car owners hire one or two jockeys to gain access to stretches of the city’s “3 in 1,” high-occupancy lanes. The jockey is essentially an extra passenger who helps commuters circumvent carpooling rules, making the ride into central Jakarta slightly less slow.

But the city blames the jockeys for worsening the city’s gridlock. The authorities have long rounded up jockeys and sent them to detention centers, where they are made to mop floors and do push-ups for a few days. And now the city, which has made periodic moves to scrap the carpooling system altogether, is considering replacing it with an electronic card system that will render the jockeys obsolete.

The countdown may have begun, and not only for the jockeys. By 2011, Jakarta officials predict that the city will experience “total traffic,” or complete paralysis. Already, traffic jams cost the city $1.2 billion a year in lost time and fuel, as well as health problems.