TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Jakarta pedestrians in need of proper, safer sidewalks
Where are our sidewalks?: Members of the Pedestrians Coalition (KPK) hold a sign near the Palmerah Train Station in Central Jakarta
Change Size
W
span class="inline inline-center">Where are our sidewalks?: Members of the Pedestrians Coalition (KPK) hold a sign near the Palmerah Train Station in Central Jakarta. They have criticized the city administration for not paying attention to the safety of pedestrians and allowing most of the sidewalks in the capital to remain inadequate.(JP/Seto Wardhana)
Saying that walking in Jakarta is a pernicious activity is not an exaggeration considering the poor condition of sidewalks or the lack of them in the capital.
Rubiyanti, a 23-year-old worker, said she enjoyed walking from her office at the Manggala Wanabakti building to Palmerah station in Central Jakarta, which is only 300 meters away.
However, when she gets close to the station, she needs to be extra careful as the road narrows and the sidewalk becomes nonexistent.
She is forced to walk in a 50-centimeter-wide space between the asphalt road and the sewage. She also has to pay attention to where she is walking as some utility wires protrude from the ground.
“We still have a good sidewalk in front of my office to near the station. After that, I have to compete with motorcycles, buses and cars to walk as there is no sidewalk,” she said.
Rubiyanti said she was always cautious as her body could be inches away from vehicles. “I was almost hit by a car once,” she said.
Sidewalks in Palmerah and many other areas around public transportation shelters and stations in Jakarta are far from decent. Many stations and bus shelters that are near to each other also do not have integrated facilities for pedestrians that allow them to easily switch between public transportation modes. Many of them eventually resort to using private vehicles or take personalized public transport like motorcycle taxis and taxis.
Putri Annisa, a 24-year-old worker, also has to struggle when exiting from the Duri Kepa Transjakarta shelter in West Jakarta to take her regular bus to reach her office in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta.
“The sidewalk is narrow and some of it is occupied by stores and offices,” she said.
She said that part of the sidewalk was once damaged. “I reported it through Qlue, it was fixed right away,” she said, referring to the public monitoring application used by the Jakarta administration. She said, however, the sidewalk was still inadequate.
Qlue reveals that at least 5,797 reports on sidewalks were submitted from January to April to the application.
The top three complaints regarding sidewalks related to general damages, which recorded 1,788 reports, illegal parking with 1,063 reports and street vendors with 1,026.
A survey conducted by the Pedestrian Coalition last year recorded that 80 percent of sidewalks in Jakarta are inadequate.
“Ninety-nine percent of [the sidewalks] cannot accommodate disabled people,” coalition chairman Alfred Sitorus said.
Alfred said that the coalition received around five reports per day about sidewalks from Jakartans through their Twitter account, @trotoarian, and their facebook fanpage.
“We usually forward the report to the authority’s social media account to be followed up on,” he said.
The coalition routinely stage protests at the sites with damaged or no sidewalks across the city every Friday since 2012.
“Only one sidewalk on Jl. Raden Saleh, Central Jakarta, has been revamped because of our protests so far,” he said.
Alfred urged the city administration to set targets each year for which sidewalks need revamping or if new sidewalks need to be constructed. “The administration should also use the standard set by the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry, so the work can be synchronized,” he said.
Earlier this month, Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama said that the administration was set to widen sidewalks along Jl. Jend. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin — the site of a planned MRT station — by up to 9.5 meters next year in a bid to limit the number of cars using the capital’s main highways.
Through the plan, Ahok added, the administration was also aiming to persuade commuters to switch from private vehicles to rail-based mass transportation.
Alfred said that the projects by the city were still sporadic.
“I appreciate that Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama wants to widen the sidewalks on Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin,” he said.
He added, however, areas near public transport shelters and stations were sites that needed sidewalks the most.
