Rather than using badly designed and poorly maintained pedestrian bridges, many people choose to jaywalk across busy roads and risk their own safety, research shows.
Residents Ema and Alena, for example, said the old and dirty bridges were equally unsafe.
“It’s faster to run across the street than to use the bridge with its long stairs,” said Ema recently, while trying to cross the traffic on Jl. Asia Afrika in Central Jakarta, not far from a pedestrian bridge.
“I have never seen anyone cleaning or renovating the bridge,” said Ema, whose office is near the bridge.
Alena, another pedestrian, said she rarely used pedestrian bridges. “I’m afraid that pickpockets will try to rob me on them,” she said.
Research released by Pelangi environmental organization shows that up to 65 percent pedestrian bridges in Jakarta were not used by pedestrians in 2005.
The poor planning and unergonomic design of the bridges, many of which are too narrow or too high, contributed to the low usage, Greenmap Jakarta coordinator Nirwono Joga said.
“Crime on the bridges and garbage further discourages pedestrians,” he said.
Nirwono said most bridges could not be used by cyclists or people in wheelchairs, making them ineffective for public use.
“Only bridges serving busway shelters [provide wheelchair and bicycle access]. However, even these had begun to show signs of damage,” he said.
Jakarta Transportation Agency traffic management chief Muhammad Akbar said the existing bridges were too narrow and unfriendly toward bikers and people living with disabilities, but denied Nirwono’s allegations that most pedestrian bridges were unused.
“I believe most of them are still in use,” he said.
Akbar said his agency checked Jakarta’s 253 pedestrian bridges once every three months. “If we notice parts are damaged we do tests to check the bridge’s strength,” he said.
Responding to The Jakarta Post’s question as to whether his Agency also checked the cleanliness of the bridges, Akbar said, “That is the job of the sanitation agency.”
He added that to meet needs of citizens from all walks of life, the bridges needed to be built wider.
“But we can not do that because the land next to existing bridges is privately owned,” Akbar said.
Pedestrian bridges were managed by at least three agencies, Nirwono said. “The transportation agency designs the bridges, but the public works agency is the one that builds them. Once built, public order officers are responsible for the bridges’ security,” he said.
The lack of coordination between these agencies made it difficult to manage the bridges.
Nirwono urged the city administration to stop building any new pedestrian bridges.
“The pedestrian bridges have been proven to be ineffective. The city would be better off making zebra crossing in less busy areas,” he said.
Meanwhile, in busy areas such as the HI roundabout in Central Jakarta, “the administration should build underpasses,” he said. (mrs)
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