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string of recent assaults against women on footbridges has raised concerns about the safety of pedestrians on the capital'€™s many footbridges, some of which are considered ill-maintained and dangerous.

Last month a 23-year-old woman identified as R was robbed and raped on a pedestrian bridge in Lebak Bulus at 4:30 p.m. as she was traveling home from her office in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta.

Six days later, the alleged suspect was shot dead by a Jakarta Police officer after he tried to attack the officer with a machete, according to the police.

Passing over the Jakarta Outer Ring Road, the Lebak Bulus footbridge is long and high, making it unpopular with locals who prefer to use a zebra crossing located less than a kilometer away.

'€œThe bridge is very quiet during the day and night. I'€™d rather take the zebra crossing as there are more people there,'€ Diane, whose workplace is located near the bridge, told the The Jakarta Post.

When the Post visited the scene, no one walked across the bridge for over an hour. Stretching 250 meters from one side to the other, and set very high above the road below, the bridge is said to be crime-prone because any sounds or screams on the bridge would be drowned out by the noise of vehicles passing below.

The South Jakarta administration responded by saying it would replace lights on the footbridge.

The municipality'€™s Industry and Energy Agency head Hasmi Chalid said his agency had replaced the lights on the bridge as the previous ones had been stolen. Several trees growing around the bridge'€™s stairways have also been pruned to ensure clear vision of the walkway.

Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said the city administration would carry out measures to improve safety including installing CCTV cameras in various location across the capital.

However, Uli Pangaribuan from the Legal Aid Foundation of Indonesian Women'€™s Association for Justice (LBH APIK) said such solutions would not solve the root cause of the problem, emphasizing that the administration would eventually forget the incident and resume a business-as-usual approach.

Uli, who was accompanying a victim of a sexual assault that occurred in a Transjakarta shelter, said it was not the first time the city administration had taken reactionary measures instead of thinking about crime prevention.

'€œFor example, the city administration and local police tend to raid public minivans after rape incidents on public transportation happen. And then afterwards, it'€™s back to business as usual. That is not the right solution,'€ she said.

Marco Kusumawijaya, an urbanist and also a gubernatorial candidate, issued a press release after the footbridge incident, emphasizing the urgent need for the administration to take action.

'€œIssues of unsafe and ill-maintained footbridges in various places in the city have been known for a long time. The city administration has ignored the problem for a long time,'€ Marco said in the release.

'€œThis is a moment for radical change to really make Jakarta a pedestrian friendly city. Pedestrians are the majority of residents; all of us are pedestrians,'€ he added.

Marco called for urban design that prioritized crossings like zebra or pelican crossings. '€œThis is good for [...] all residents,'€ he said. '€œMotorized vehicles should give way to pedestrians; they should be the ones to go on bridges or underground in tunnels.'€

Footbridges, Marco went on, had to be a last resort. And in such cases, the walkways must be designed to be pedestrian friendly.

'€œThey have to pick correct and safe locations for bridges, by calculating the foot traffic. And also give bridges appropriate infrastructure like CCTV and lighting and make them viewable by passersby to allow collective surveillance,'€ he said.