Having missed out yesterday's 'Bike to Work Day' it's only fair to mention that B2W have a 'Fun Day' tomorrow, Sunday, from 6am (eh?) to 5pm at Senayan.The good news is that incoming Jakarta Governor, Fauwi Bozo, who has seemingly been an advisor to B2W since they started two years ago, has stated that his administration will set up special bicycle-only lanes along certain city streets. Furthermore, bike parking facilities will be built at the Kalideres, Kampung Rambutan and Ragunan busway terminals.
And the bad news?
Firstly, there were only 45 'clean air' days in the city last year. Officials are patting themselves on the back, whilst simultaneously coughing, because there were 54 days of supposedly clean air up to the end of last month. That's as much as one day in four. Wow.
Secondly, there is general anarchy on the roads which means that cyclists must be brave.
Thirdly, there is hardly an unpotholed road in the city, not even the new busway lanes.
Jakarta's Busway is in the news again this week. A new route is planned to go through the posh suburb of Pondok Indah but the residents are revolting. They have more money than sense, their houses are designed to flaunt wealth, and they have a car for every member of their family - and it is this very wantonness which necessitates a decent and speedy public transport service for the rest of us.How else are their servants supposed to get to work?
The problem, as the residents see it, is that the median in the road passing their shopping malls will have to be narrowed to make way for bus shelters and trees will have to be removed. But what they are unaware of is that just twenty years ago most of the area was still agricultural land.
There is a simple solution to the woes of the Pondok Indah population. City Hall should issue special vehicle registration plates to them. They must then agree not to drive into the city (thereby adding to the traffic woes of everybody else) in return for a ban on public transport into the unsightly mess (IMHO) that is their soulless suburb. If they wish to enter the city, then they must pay a special toll.
Ignoring the snobbish concerns of the nouveaux riche, it is worth noting that Jakarta got the idea from Bogota in Colombia. There was an International Seminar on Sustain Mobility (sic) there in February 2003 and Mrs DA Rini MSc. of the Jakarta Transport Authority read this paper.
There are numerous complaints about the Busway service and the lack of maintenance of the infrastructure. But these concerns, judging from the inadequacy of the presentation, were complacently pre-ordained.
Public transportation is a back bone social economic activities for any big city like Jakarta and for years the Jakarta system gone not in the wright way although is not mean to be.
• Busway is an icon on how we plan to rearrange the system and management of a public transportation in Jakarta.
• The program had been softly launched but the plan has to be improved accordingly to overcome impact that might arise.
• Outsourcing of the plan and the program are most important task to do to avoid any fails and to learn how to succeed.
Quite!
Labels: environment, Jakarta, transport
