Experts and members of urban green communities have once again renewed their calls for the establishment of bicycle lanes in the city, citing the increasing number of cyclists in the capital.
Jakarta Green Map coordinator Nirwono Joga said Friday the city administration should not delay the construction of bicycle lanes in the city for too long since the lanes were necessary to accommodate the increasing number of cyclists in Jakarta.
"Establishing these lanes would not significantly impact the administration's budget because they just need to reallocate existing road infrastructure," Nirwono told The Jakarta Post.
"The transportation agency, for example, would only need to install road signs or paint more street markers for the cyclists."
Wahyu Diartito, the head of Bike to Work's (B2W) research division, said cyclists were not calling for the administration to give them special privileges. A key demand, according to Wahyu, is a legal guarantee that cyclists have the same right as other motorists to use the road.
"If the administration provided more infrastructure *for cyclists*, it would attract more people to leave their vehicles at home and start cycling," he said.
The cyclists' call for bicycle lanes was renewed following the South Jakarta municipality's administration announcement earlier this month that it would establish a pilot-project bicycle lane connecting Lebak Bulus and Jl. Sisingamangaraja by next year.
On a recent Sunday, members of B2W and Green Map Jakarta cycled the 13-kilometer stretch from Senayan, Central Jakarta, to Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, in an effort to measure the feasibility of converting city thoroughfares to accommodate bicycle lanes.
The event, according to Nirwono, was also held to support the worldwide Ride Planet Earth campaign, which promotes the use of environmentally sustainable transportation to fight climate change.
Ride Planet Earth began last year when Australian Kim Nguyen, with the help of friends and supporters around Australia, set off on a 25,000-kilometers ride from Brisbane to Copenhagen to attend the 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference.
- JP/Hasyim Widhiarto
