T

he Bike to Work community, which minimizes its use of private vehicles, opting instead to use the greener option of a bicycle, may have a passion for pedaling, but it recognizes that it is not easy maneuvering the streets of Jakarta on a man-powered vehicle.

Private company employee Nugroho Erlangga, 27, who cut down the number of times he bikes to work to two times a week and rides a motorcycle on the remaining days, rides his bike from his home in Salemba, Central Jakarta, to Kedoya, West Jakarta. Facing a 19-kilometer route, he starts his day early to arrive to work on time.

Riding a bicycle is not only healthy but it is also an alternative to avoiding traffic, he said. However, with no dedicated bike lanes available, as well as a growing number of vehicles crowding the streets of the city, he faces many challenges while biking.

“Often times I have to compete with other vehicles to drive on the road,” Nugroho said on Sunday.

In addition to a shortage of bike lanes, there are no special parking spots or facilities for bikes. Nugroho said that because there were no showers in his office, he joined a gym near his office just to take a shower after his 45-minute ride from home.

Bike to Work Indonesia, which was established in 2005, claims that more than 7,000 people in Jakarta commute to work by bike. However, some have started to leave their bikes behind, returning to motorcycles and cars, Bike to Work co-founder Toto Sugito said. “It’s such a pity that they switched back to motor vehicles,” he told The Jakarta Post.

Echoing Nugroho’s sentiments, Toto further said that a lack of public facilities such as bike lanes and parking spots for bikes discouraged people from riding bikes. Not all train stations provided parking space for bikes and, even if they did, there would be concerns of bike theft, he said.

“Yes, there are more motor vehicles than bikes, but we are also consumers that have the right to be treated well,” Toto said.

“The government has to pay attention to bicycle riders so that society will slowly switch to using bikes for their daily activities.”

Although few bike lanes exist, there are several of them scattered across Jakarta. The Jakarta administration built a 1.5-kilometer special bike lane connecting Ayodya Park to Blok M in South Jakarta in 2015. Another lane connects Pulo Gebang in East Jakarta to Marunda in North Jakarta, along the East Flood Canal. However, the lanes are not used as intended and are often filled with vehicles parking and driving through, Toto said.

However, the city is not always crowded with motor vehicles. Jakarta residents take advantage of the weekly Car Free Day to get on their bikes and roam the main streets of the city without having to deal with other vehicles.

Despite the city’s previous plan of providing bike lanes, Jakarta Transportation Agency head Andri Yansyah said it was not necessary to immediately build the bike lanes considering that few people bike to work.

“There are 25.7 million pedestrians in Jakarta and there are 45.7 million in the Greater Jakarta area. We can not sacrifice [...] [their walking space] for just a small group of cyclists,” he told the Post, adding that the administration had faced enough challenges in building the Transjakarta busway lanes.

“When the time is right, it can be realized,” he said, speaking about the possibility of adding facilities for cyclists. (hol)