The plan came in light of the city’s first phase of expanded bike lanes in several areas. Jakarta Transportation Agency head Syafrin Liputo said companies had expressed interest in joining the movement through the bike-sharing service following the completion of the expanded lanes.

The service is expected to promote and provide access to bicycles as an alternative mode of transportation. With the bike-sharing program, people could use bicycles made available at the bicycle’s parking zones on a short-term basis.

“We are discussing it. Nine companies are interested in joining,” he told reporters at City Hall on Thursday.

Before such services began, however, the agency would have to prepare regulations to ensure the smooth implementation.

“We need to have regulations in place so providers are adequately facilitated. And the public has to be given services that meet our standards,” he said.

The agency said the service would be set up in high-demand locations, “like in stations and Transjakarta bus stops. The demand there is commonly high,” Syafrin said.

He added that his agency was also discussing the matter with state-owned commuter line operator PT KCI to provide bicycle parking zones at their stations, aside from city-owned public transportation companies MRT Jakarta and Transjakarta.

However, he did not elaborate on the matter as the city administration was deliberating it.

A bike-sharing scheme is actually already in place in the city through a cooperation with app-based bike sharing service GOWES, which was launched July last year. The service provides the bikes at the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta for visitors who want to cycle around the popular area for free.

The company provided 100 bicycles, which can be rented by visitors who have downloaded the GOWES app.

The service was launched through cooperation between the city administration, GOWES' app developer PT Surya Teknologi Perkasa and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) Indonesia.

However, the bicycles in Monas are currently unavailable as the company is preparing to supply new bikes, Gowes marketing and communication officer Tiara Apriani told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Expanding bike lanes and providing bike-sharing services are among the city’s efforts to encourage more people to pedal their way around the city and to ease gridlock, as well as to fight worsening air pollution.

There are a total of 32 kilometers of bicycle lanes scattered irregularly across the city.

The Jakarta administration is conducting a trial for the expanded bike lanes, up to 63 km on the city’s thoroughfares, which are divided into three phases.

The first phase, launched last month, spans 25 km from East Jakarta to Central Jakarta.

The second phase, launched on Saturday, spans 23 km from Central Jakarta to South Jakarta.

Meanwhile, the remaining 15 km will be made available in West Jakarta and Central Jakarta.

The trial is being held from Sept. 20 until Nov. 19. After the trial, road users illegally using the bike lanes will be fined Rp 500,000 (US$35) in accordance with the 2009 Traffic Law.

Through the development of proper facilities for cycling, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan previously said he was hoping cycling would no longer be seen as a sport but as a way of commuting.

Transportation expert Djoko Setijowarno from the Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) lauded the bike-sharing idea but at the same time suggested that the city administration expand the service to residential areas.

“Bikes should be available in residential areas. So people can use them until they get to public transportation and continue their trips,” he told the Post.

He argued that such a move would solve the first-mile-last-mile problem, where people nowadays prefer to use private vehicles because there is no public transportation directly available on their residential areas.

In addition, the city administration should also involve satellite cities in promoting bicycle use to accommodate daily commuters from outside Jakarta.

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