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Riders Cautiously Welcome Plans for 50km of North Jakarta Cycling Lanes
Dofa Fasila | February 14, 2012

North Jakarta Mayor Bambang Sugiyono announced on Monday his intention to build 50 kilometers of new cycle lanes within the year. (Antara Photo) North Jakarta Mayor Bambang Sugiyono announced on Monday his intention to build 50 kilometers of new cycle lanes within the year. (Antara Photo)
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Normalaatsra
8:15pm Feb 15, 2012

Jchay, I was about to say that.

But I have to remove the "popularity stunt" part because it is not one.

Motorocycle lanes are better. In a country where motorcyclist in general think they're the king of the road, a special dedicated lane for idiots should be built >_>

SirAnthonyKnown-Bender
1:21pm Feb 15, 2012

...or you could buy yourself a bicycle jchay.

jchay
11:11am Feb 15, 2012

Any Jakarta government and officials with the right and healthy mind will prioritize in building 50km of Jakarta Motorcycle Lanes instead.. this is simply a popularity stunt, this project will make motorists suffer, just like Busway lanes.

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While the paths dedicated to cyclists in the capital have not grown any longer, at least politicians’ promises of new cycle lanes continue to grow apace.

North Jakarta Mayor Bambang Sugiyono announced on Monday his intention to build 50 kilometers of new cycle lanes within the year. Bambang said the work would be done in conjunction with the capital’s transportation office.

“We are discussing it and waiting for the Jakarta city transportation office to fund it,” he said.

Bambang said the new route would begin at Jalan Marina Raya in Ancol and continue eastward, parallel to the waterfront, through Jalan Akses Marunda.

The new plans for North Jakarta are on top of 30 kilometers of cycle paths planned for the Thousand Islands area, offshore of the capital, and 10 kilometers of paths planned for South Jakarta, both announced last year.

Despite several months of fanfare, however, the city still has just 1.4 kilometers of bike lanes, running from Ayodya Park in South Jakarta down Jalan Mahakam to Melawai on Jalan Iskandarsyah.

Six months after the Ayodya lane was completed, it remains essentially unused because it was chosen without consulting cyclists and didn’t travel along a useful route, said Toto Sugito, founder of the Bike2Work Community, the country’s largest commuter cycling group.

A point of excitement for cycling enthusiasts in Monday’s announcement was that the plans for North Jakarta included a route which would run the length of the East Flood Canal.

A long-standing recommendation cycling lobbyists have pushed has been for the construction of off-street cycle paths, which are safer and more pleasant to use.

The existing on-street bicycle lane in South Jakarta consists of a strip of roadway painted green and marked with signposts to discourage cars from driving along it — but a lack of awareness about its purpose and poor law enforcement mean that the Ayodya cycling lane has been largely invaded by parked cars.

Bambang said that in North Jakarta, the approach would be to color a portion of the left shoulder of the road with yellow paint, with the addition of a concrete separator in areas more prone to accidents, such as along Jalan Cakung Cilincing and Jalan Yos Sudarso.

“This bicycle lane will eventually be linked up and will connect to East, Central and West Jakarta,” the mayor said.

Jakarta’s governor encouraged the city’s mayors to develop plans for cycle lanes.

“It’s time that Jakarta fulfills the needs of its residents. That’s why it’s time to build cycle lanes in the four city divisions which do not yet have them. By doing so, we can ensure the safety of cyclists,” Fauzi Bowo said.

Toto was cautiously hopeful. “We hope plans for the North Jakarta cycle lanes don’t suffer the same unfortunate fate as those in South Jakarta,” he said.