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Jakarta bike lane renovation plan gets mixed reactions
The Jakarta administration's Rp 7.5 billion allocation for bicycle lane expansion has been shifted toward maintenance, including replacing traffic cone partitions with cat's eye reflectors.
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Motorists pass damaged stick traffic cones setting off a bike lane on Jl. Penjernihan 1 in Jakarta on Oct. 18, 2023. The Jakarta administration will replace the damaged cones with cat's eyes, reflective safety devices installed on the road’s surface, along several bike lanes across the city. (Antara/Reno Esnir)
T
he Jakarta administration is working to replace the bicycle lane dividers in streets across the city with new road markers that it claims will improve the safety and appearance of the specialized lane.
But the move has been met with mixed reactions, with one side claiming the renovations are unjustified given the low number of cyclists in the capital and the other criticizing the replacement for not offering sufficient protection for cyclists.
A video that went viral recently shows Jakarta Transportation Agency officials removing the plastic stick cones used to separate bike lanes from the main road. The video triggered complaints about the rider safety and suspicions that the administration was planning to remove the bicycle lanes altogether.
Jakarta Transportation Agency head Syafrin Liputo claimed last week that the government was simply replacing bike lane dividers that had been damaged by motorists along 13 sections of road across the city. The traffic cones would be replaced by cat’s eyes, reflective safety devices installed on the road’s surface.
The city had chosen the new device for practical and aesthetic reasons, he claimed.
“The cat’s eyes are better in terms of their appearance and the ease of maintenance,” Syafrin said on Thursday, as quoted by Antara.
The agency was seeking to ensure the lanes were in “pristine condition to ensure the safety of the riders”, he added.
