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Bicycle repair shops see orders jump to meet rise in commuters
Handyman: Joko "Jack" Sulistio, a 40-year-old mechanic, checks a bicycle at the Bredo Cycloworks workshop at City Plaza in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, on Thursday
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andyman: Joko "Jack" Sulistio, a 40-year-old mechanic, checks a bicycle at the Bredo Cycloworks workshop at City Plaza in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, on Thursday. Most of the shop’s customers are people who work in the neighborhood and commute by bicycle. (JP/Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman)
Bicycle repair shops are seeing more customers as a growing number of cycling enthusiasts benefit from the special lanes the Jakarta administration has built.
Joko "Jack" Sulistio, a 40-year-old bicycle mechanic who has worked at Bredo Cycloworks since 2016, remarked that the workshop had seen a recent increase in customers seeking regular maintenance services — so much so that the shop sometimes had a long waiting list.
Most of the repair shop's customers are commuter cyclists, as it is located at City Plaza in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta.
"A cooperative has been set up to facilitate employees who love cycling," Jack told The Jakarta Post on Thursday, referring to people who work in the building. "Many of them have started commuting by bike."
"If they have a problem, they can have it repaired here. They can bring their bike to the shop in the morning, and pick it up after work," said Jack, who is also a commuter cyclist, as is his wife.
Bredo Cycloworks charges Rp 100,000 (US$7.31) to Rp 150,000 for regular maintenance on bottom brackets, brakes and chains. Most of its customers have folding bikes.
The shop is just one of the many bicycle maintenance and repair shops that are benefiting from the growing cycling movement in the capital, especially since the Jakarta administration installed bike lanes that span 63 kilometers in Central, East and South Jakarta.
While the lanes are not all connected, the administration spent Rp 62 billion of its 2019 budget to install them. It plans this year to expand the lanes to 200 km.
"Some of my neighbors have started riding bicycles, too," said Jack, who lives in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta. "Now they have started asking me to go cycling [with them] during the weekly Car Free Day event on Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin."
The administration developed the lanes as part of its effort to reduce air pollution and ease the congestion caused by motorized vehicles. It has also issued supporting regulations: Law No. 22/2009 on traffic and vehicles stipulates a fine of Rp 500,000 for cars and motorcycles that pass in bike lanes.
The Jakarta Environment Agency is backing the effort with a policy issued in September 2019 that obliges its employees to commute by bicycle or by public transportation on Fridays.
Ari Budhiono, who owns Sampoerna Bike in Pancoran, South Jakarta, remarked that his shop was "overwhelmed" by repair orders these days. The shop typically had four orders per day, but it was now receiving up to 24 orders and had to create a waiting list for the entire week, he said.
But this had also disrupted the supply chain, and he could only order four tires instead of the usual 20 because his suppliers were running out due to the high demand.
"The rising trend in folding bikes is extraordinary. Now the majority of the bikes we [repair] are folding bikes," said Ari, who started his shop in 2011 with an initial investment of Rp 2.5 million, working out of his parents' garage.
A folding bicycle is convenient for urban commuters, as it can be folded for carrying on public transit or into a building. More and more Jakartans can be seen carting around these bicycles for their commute, especially downtown.
Poetoet Soedarjanto of Bike To Work (B2W) Indonesia said on Thursday that the number of cyclists in the capital had grown since the bike lanes were installed, as had the number of cycling clubs.
Many clubs group employees of a single company or other work-related connection, while other clubs group enthusiasts of a particular type of bicycle type or represent a neighborhood community.
"Most cyclists, myself included, still go to repair shops to keep our bikes in good condition," said Poetoet, who has trusted a single shop in Tangerang, Banten, to maintain his bicycle since 2005. "The owner of the shop I frequent said that he had extended the shop's closing hour from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. due to the increasing number of customers."
Other cyclists repair their own bikes. Hendi Rachmat, the founder of the Westbike Messenger bicycle courier service, told the Post by phone that the company provided all employees with the necessary parts and tools to maintain their bikes themselves. However, Westbike relied on repair shops to provide spare parts or to assemble a bicycle.
Although the newly installed lanes did not necessarily lead to an increase in delivery orders, Hendi said he put his hopes in Jakartans' growing concerns about the air quality in their city.
"They can choose to use our bicycle messenger service. Not only will it help their companies deliver documents, but also support their desire to contribute indirectly to reduce air pollution," he said. (dfr)
