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Revitalized Kota Tua offers respite for pedestrians
The newly revamped Kota Tua area in West Jakarta offers a glimpse at the future, with pedestrian-friendly infrastructure offering a lull in the fast-paced, noisy and traffic-filled city.
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‘Onthel’ (roadsters) and sun hats available to rent at Lada Plaza in Kota Tua (Old Town), Jakarta, wait for customers on Sept. 9, 2022. The plaza now stands at the site of a former junction of two ordinary asphalt roads, Jl. Lada and Jl. Ketumbar, which used to be busy with passing vehicles. (JP/A. Muh. Ibnu Aqil)
D
uring a cloudy afternoon on Friday, Lisda spoke to The Jakarta Post while keeping watch over her students at Fatahillah Square in Kota Tua, or Old Town, in West Jakarta.
The 50-year-old elementary school teacher had brought her students and their parents on a school field trip to the newly revamped historical area, which was once the city center of Batavia, Jakarta’s name during the Dutch colonial era.
Lisda and her group had chosen the Kota Tua area for the school field trip, as it was affordable and also had several museums they could visit.
“Kota Tua is one of the closest places we can visit from the city. The square is also a historical part of Jakarta,” Lisda said.
Earlier in the day, she and several dozen students and parents arrived in Kota Tua from Kemanggisan, also in West Jakarta. The mikrolet (minivan) they rented for the trip had dropped them off in front of the Bank Mandiri Museum, from where they had walked to Fatahillah Square.
Lisda said the latest renovations to Kota Tua had made the area more comfortable and much safer, especially for large groups of children, adding that she would love more areas in the capital to be developed like Kota Tua, with a focus on pedestrians.
“It’s safer this way and we don’t have to be afraid of being hit by motorized vehicles when walking,” she said.
