When Police Ask Anies To Change Permanent Bike Lanes It Costs IDR 30 Billion

Permanent bike path (Photo: Irfan Meidianto/VOI)

JAKARTA - Jakarta has a permanent bike path along Jenderal Sudirman Street to MH Thamrin with a cost of making IDR 30 billion. The goal is good, to protect cyclists crossing the highway.

However, Head of Sub Directorate of Law Development and Enforcement of Traffic Service Polda Metro Jaya AKBP Fahri Siregar asked the Governor of DKI Jakarta Anies Baswedan to overhaul the permanent bike lane barrier with the concrete planter box model.

"If I look at it, the current condition that is needed is to replace the planter box with a softer material. Not made of concrete", Fahri said when contacted, Sunday, May 9.

Fahri sees the implementation of permanent bike lanes not running smoothly. Although it protects bicycle users, it increases the risk of fatality in the event of an accident.

Considering, some time ago there was a car accident that rolled after crashing into a permanent bike lane barrier on Sudirman Street. Therefore, Fahri asked for barriers made with soft materials to minimize the risk of accidents.

"We can learn from some countries that they also make that barrier from soft materials, not concrete. It could be another cyclist's bike, a nudge, a fall. If he's not wearing a helmet, it's fatal. Other road users crossing in the middle of it have concrete, hit, must have a high fatality", said Fahri.

Then, traffic officers also can't shift concrete barriers if needed to parse traffic density. Unlike portable traffic cones that can be shifted when traffic is heavy.

Moreover, currently, the volume of bicycle users in the capital city has also decreased by 21.57 percent during the micro PPKM period compared to the previous period.

"The permanent path is different. At the time it turned out that the intensity of the cyclist was lacking, he could not be shifted because the planter box is static, 300 kilos", said Fahri.

"Therefore, we will always evaluate whether the protocol path is appropriate. Is another path necessary, or is another path not appropriate, and so on", he added.

As is known, there is a bicycle lane barrier on Sudirman-Thamrin Street using white concrete, covered with yellow-black lines. The barrier is shaped like a related chain.

Head of the Transportation Office of DKI Syafrin Liputo explained that the permanent bike path will be installed along 11.2 kilometers with a width of 2 meters. This barrier is made to resemble a chain because it has the theme Sabuk Nusantara.

According to him, the arrangement of bicycle lane barriers that have a width of about 2 meters symbolizes the second precept of Pancasila.

"The chain symbolizes the second syllabus, signifying human relationships with each other that help each other and also a form of collaboration, where Jakarta as the city of collaboration", explained Syafrin.

Furthermore, Syafrin said the permanent bike lanes on this protocol road will be equipped with several facilities for cyclists. Among them are wayfinding, footrest at the foot of the intersection in the bike lane track, and rest area in the form of a bike rack on the sidewalk.

The construction of this bike path costs around IDR 30 billion. The budget is not from Regional Budget, but third-party compensation.