B2W Revokes Jakarta's Status as Bicycle-Friendly City

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Bike to Work Indonesia community, known as B2W, revoked Jakarta's status as a bicycle-friendly city. The Chairman of B2W, Fahmi Saimima, claimed that the provincial government of Jakarta is inconsistent with its effort to maintain its status as a bicycle-friendly city.

"We also believe there is a management malpractice happening, especially regarding the bicycle lanes," he said when called on Wednesday, November 8, 2023.

Previously in 2021, B2W granted Jakarta the status of Bicycle Friendly City. However, various policies taken by the provincial government caused the community to cancel it. 

First, in November 2022, the provincial government canceled the allotted budget for bicycle lane development from the 2023 local government budget plan (RAPBD).

This year in April, the Acting Governor of Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono mandated a traffic engineering at Santa T-junction in South Jakarta, causing the bicycle lane and pedestrian sidewalks there to be demolished.

"In May 2023, eighteen roads in Jakarta were re-paved due to the ASEAN Summit preparation, covering the existing bicycle lanes in these roads," he said.

The newest instance was the decision of the Jakarta Transportation Office to dismantle the stick cones that marked the bicycle lane on thirteen roads. According to Fahmi, B2W has rejected the government's proposition to substitute the stick cones with road studs to no avail.

Fahmi added that the provincial government also canceled the Rp4.5 billion budget allotted in the RAPBD 2024 concerning bicycle lane development. 

NOVALI PANJI NUGROHO

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