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Cyclists rejoice after launch of bike lane, hope for more facilities
The lane, launched on Friday by Jakarta Governor, Anies Baswedan, spans 25 kilometers from East Jakarta to Central Jakarta in addition to the existing 32 km of bicycle lanes spread irregularly across the city. The city plans to expand the lane to a total of 63 km by the end of this year.
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Improper parking: A compressed natural gas-powered blue 'bajaj' (three-wheeled motorized vehicle) is parked in a bicycle lane in Blok M, South Jakarta, on Monday, effectively blocking it for cyclists. (The Jakarta Post/Iqbal Yuwansyah)
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akarta’s cyclists, who have long complained about the lack of facilities to support their healthy and environmentally friendly way of commuting and unpleasant treatment from other road users, can rejoice as a new bicycle lane was launched over the weekend.
While the lane has not instantly made their life on pedals easier, they hope it will make cycling safer and more comfortable.
The lane, launched on Friday by Jakarta Governor, Anies Baswedan, spans 25 kilometers from East Jakarta to Central Jakarta in addition to the existing 32 km of bicycle lanes spread irregularly across the city.
The city plans to expand the lane to a total of 63 km by the end of this year.
“This year we will add 63 km of bike lanes on the capital city's roads. This extension will be done in three phases and the 25 km lane is the first. Through this effort, we hope more Jakartans will see cycling not only as a form of exercise but also as a means of transportation,” he told the press on Friday after trying out the new lane.
Anies said the lanes would make the roads safer for cyclists and encourage more people to commute by bike. “I’ve seen many parents forbidding their children to commute by bike to school because they were worried about their children’s safety. I hope such things won’t happen again after the launch of the bike lanes.”
The city, he said, aimed to add bike lanes to almost all roads in the capital city, especially on streets affected by the odd-even policy. The odd-even policy is a traffic scheme restricting access to selected roads to vehicles with odd-numbered license plates on odd-numbered dates and to those with even-numbered plates on even-numbered dates.
