'Jogja More Bike' Invites Residents To Bike For Better City Air Quality

Illustrated. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - Known as a city of students and a destination for cultural and natural tourism, the city of Yogyakarta (Jogja) is faced with the problem of air pollution. In the last week alone, the air quality in Jogja was recorded in varying conditions with a moderate average.

In this condition, people belonging to sensitive groups are advised to use masks to avoid exposure to pollution. In order to overcome this problem, various elements of the people of Yogyakarta collaborated to launch the 'Jogja More Bike' campaign.

This campaign aims to increase awareness of Jogja residents and stakeholders about the problem of air pollution and encourage changes both in terms of policy and community behavior in choosing a more environmentally friendly mode of transportation.

Arif Wismadi from the Center for Transportation and Logistics Studies at Gadjah Mada University (Pustral UGM) said that along with the rapid growth of motorization, mobile sources or land transportation are proven to contribute more than 60 percent of total emissions in Jogja.

There are three policy options to overcome this problem, namely reducing the number or distance of trips, technological and efficient innovation, and shifting to environmentally friendly modes of transportation.

"Jogja More Bike is certainly a very good initiative because it encourages people to make changes to their choice of transportation modes with minimal emissions. As part of the collaboration with Jogja Lebih Bike, UGM Pustral is currently carrying out a Bikeability Study," said Arif in a statement. received, Friday 19 February.

In daily mobility, 88 percent of the people of Jogja are still very dependent on motorized vehicles, especially motorbikes and only 2.6 percent of residents have cycled. The Jogja More Bike Initiative comes as a joint community movement in reviving bicycles as part of their daily activities and a form of collective contribution in creating cleaner air in Jogja.

Collaboration with various partners ranging from academics, non-governmental organizations, to the cycling community through Jogja Lebih Bike was built to stimulate public conversation about the importance of good air quality and encourage citizen participation in creating clean air through cycling activities.

To help people get real-time air quality data, Jogja Lebih Bike is also working with Nafas, a startup with the largest air quality sensor network in Indonesia. Five air quality sensors have been installed at various pollution points in Jogja, namely in Gondolayu (Tugu), Sayidan, Umbulharjo, Janti Bridge and at the UGM campus.

Piotr Jakubowski, Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of Nafas, stated that air quality data that can be accessed easily and in real-time is currently still limited, even though air quality data is important to be used as a reference for people in their activities, especially for sensitive groups, for example. children, the elderly and people with respiratory diseases.

"Real-time air quality data can be accessed easily and for free through the Breath application and the Jogja Lebih Bike website," he said.

In addition to educating the public about air pollution through Instagram and various other activities, this campaign also invites cyclists to share their stories through #jogjalebihbike so that they can inspire all the people of Yogyakarta to support this collaborative movement.

WHO reports 7 million premature deaths related to air pollution have occurred worldwide in 2017. Air pollution data from the Ministry of Environment shows that for six months in 2019, Jogja only had 50 days with good air quality, and the remaining 92 Jogja air quality was monitored moderate to not healthy.

In the 2019 Environmental Quality Index report, air quality in Jogja has also been reported to have decreased in the past five years.