I

would like to share my thoughts which are along the same lines as the Sept. 16 article in The Jakarta Post, titled '€œJakarta car-free day more popular, commercial'€.

I happen to live very close to Jl. Juanda, Bandung, which is declared car free every Sunday morning until 10 a.m. My family was very enthused by the concept and we all went on our bikes along with the children in tow.

But after we reached the site, we realized that there was hardly any space to walk, let alone cycle. People were walking shoulder to shoulder as there was no space.

All the sidewalk space had been taken by the shops and restaurants. There was even a mobile car showroom handing out pamphlets to people. Salesmen sold household and electrical goods. We came back exhausted and we shall never go back for a car-free day.

Since Jl. Juanda is closed on Sunday morning for these car-free day activities, there is severe traffic congestion on Jl. Tubagus Ismail, Jl. Dipati Ukur and Jl. Taman Sari. If somebody has to cross Jl. Taman Sari, it will take a minimum of half an hour on any Sunday morning.

Another thing that has to be mentioned is the trash that is created during these hours. Most of the vendors sell the food in take-away plastic bags as the people are on the move and also there is no space for sitting and eating.

At 10 a.m. when the car-free day activities come to an end, the whole road looks ugly with all the mounds of litter and plastic waste.

The car-free day concept was initially adopted to provide people with open space where physical activities can be enjoyed. But with all the selling and promotion by companies, it has become more like a weekly market.

When a lot of people converge on a particular place at a particular time, the food and merchandise vendors also converge. We cannot blame them. But can the administration not do something about who can enter the area and what kind of activities can be pursued in that place?

Bandung city administration should control the commercial activities during car-free day so that people can really enjoy a car-free day with some fresh air and not a salesman pushing pamphlets for cars into your face.

Roads are public property, but commercial exploitation of public property in the name of a car-free day is something that has to be stopped.

Anuradha Sriramulu
Bandung