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Residents of North Jakarta’s Kelapa Gading area might want to make sure they have bicycles, as the government is preparing to dedicate 17.8 kilometers of lanes for non-motorized vehicles and pedestrians.

On Sunday, about 80 bikers, including officials from the North Jakarta mayor’s office, took to the streets to test the proposed lanes.

The initiative was supported by the New York-based Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), which works with cities worldwide to bring about sustainable transport solutions. For the bike lanes, the ITDP had prepared a series of studies and technical policies.

The special lanes will go into full effect early next year. They will encircle the area covering parts of the busy North, East, South and West Kelapa Gading boulevards as well as the adjacent Jalan Kelapa Nias.

“The ITDP is trying to build a livable space by providing more room for people instead of motorized vehicles,” ITDP Indonesia director Yoga Adiwinarto said.

Before designing the lanes, the ITDP conducted a survey on traffic flow and found that the roads had surpassed their ideal capacities, making gridlock, high noise levels and large amounts of exhaust fumes the norm.

“If people in Kelapa Gading started switching to bicycles for close-range travel like going to the mall, school or just enjoying a culinary excursion, the burden on roads would drastically decrease,” said Jupan Royter, head of Kelapa Gading subdistrict.

North Jakarta resident Raymond Rumapea said he was excited for the new lanes. Though he doesn’t live in Kelapa Gading, he said, he goes there often.

“I go to Kelapa Gading at least three times a week,” said Raymond, 17. “With the new lanes, I will prefer to ride my bicycle.”

Ratna Yunita, an ITDP communication specialist, said the push for the new lanes came from the North Jakarta government.

“This is the initiative of the North Jakarta mayor [Bambang Sugiyono] who is committed to creating a bicycle-friendly neighborhood,” she said. “[The initiative] can shift the behaviors of Kelapa Gading residents who like to use their cars even when they are only going a short distance.”

“For roads nine to 11 meters wide, there will be a double-lane bicycle area on both sides that will be 2.4 meters wide each,” she said, adding that on narrower streets, half that size will be used.

The bike lanes on Jalan Kelapa Nias, Ratna said, will connect to the TransJakarta bus stops in Sunter and Pulomas.

“People can ride their bicycle to the bus halts and leave their bikes there,” she said.

Several parts of the system still needed to be studied by the ITDP, she said.

“Parking is a concern, because the lanes will eat up the on-street parking spots there,” she said.

“Perhaps the solution is to move the on-street parking to available parking buildings.”

A major hurdle to that solution, she said, was that the majority of the buildings in Kelapa Gading were owned by property developer Summarecon.

“The parking space is still Summarecon’s and not the city government’s,” she said.