Cyclists, get set, ...oh the tracks are yet to be built!
Cyclists, get set, ...oh the tracks are yet to be built!
Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
"..I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like."
The last line of Bicycle Race, the hit song of British
legendary rock group Queen released in 1978 might echo the desire
of Heru, a foreign bank employee on Jl. Sudirman, Central
Jakarta, to ride his bicycle to work along Jakarta's major
thoroughfare.
"I hope I can ride my bike to work... or at least use it to
travel a short distance around my office building, to go out for
lunch for instance," the 35-year-old resident of Bintaro, South
Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
His wish, however, is not yet on the agenda of the Jakarta
administration. Without a bicycle lane, daring cyclists have to
negotiate the congested city streets.
"We have to compete against motorcycles, cars and buses on the
streets. The exhaust fumes are unbearable and many drive
recklessly," he said. "Even if we share the sidewalks with
pedestrians, many of them are damaged or overtaken by motorcycles
during traffic jams."
Heru said he could only ride his bicycle on weekends around
his house or at the Bung Karno Sports Complex in Senayan, Central
Jakarta, or on Jl. Sudirman on Sunday morning, when the street is
closed for joggers and cyclists.
"High-rise buildings along Jl. Sudirman are actually nice to
look at as we cruise along the street on a bike," he said. "I
wish I could enjoy that every day."
Heru welcomes the proposal from the organizers of Bike to Work
and Car-Free Day events that the administration builds bicycle
lanes.
"It will be more comfortable if the lane has a canopy of trees
to protect cyclists from rain and heat," he said.
The city administration will also conduct a feasibility study
on the necessity of a bicycle lane.
The Indonesian Bicycle Industry Association (AIPI) chairman
Prihadi also suggested that the city create a network of bicycle
rental stations in business districts and shopping malls to allow
people to rent bicycles to commute short distances.
"Such a policy will also help boost the sales for the local
bicycle industry," he said, adding that the country's annual
sales for bicycles is around four million.
Vendors at the city's main bicycle market in Pasar Rumput,
South Jakarta, said their monthly sales of mountain bikes, which
range between Rp 650,000 (US$71.43) and Rp 3 million, were at
least 10. But the number can quadruple during the holidays or
when there are fun bike events.
Although there is still no exact figure of cyclists in the
city, Taufik, one of the Bike to Work event organizers, said he
usually met 20 other workers riding their bicycles on his route
from Ciledug to Jl. Sudirman.
"The figure is pretty much the same on other routes," he said,
adding they were assessing the exact number of people who cycle
to work to be submitted to the administration along with their
bicycle lane proposal.
-- Related story on Page 8