Why Bike-Sharing Is A Good Alternative to Solve Traffic Congestion in Jakarta

Bike Station in Paris

      Do you know what is the most congested city in the world? Surprisingly, the answer is Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. According to a survey conducted by British
lubricant producer Castrol in 2015, Jakarta has the status of  a city with the worst traffic congestion in the world.
The survey which included 78 cities and regions in the world, ranked Jakarta as the city with the most frequent stops and starts with an average of 33,240 per driver per year. Heavy traffic has become a part for the daily life for the citizen of Jakarta. Millions of commuters in Jakarta have to spend hours in public transportation, private cars or motorcycles before they arrive in their workplaces.  People from all walks of life have to struggle and have to get used to being stuck in every area of Jakarta. The traffic congestion in Jakarta is so alarming that it gives headache to the citizens of Jakarta, who frequently feel annoyed and grumpy. Not only that, traffic jam also wastes fuel, and time besides damages the ecology. As a result, air and sound pollution is rampant and it is bad for our health. Bicycle is one of the possible solutions to use as public transport system in Jakarta to solve the problems of congestion.  Bike-sharing, to be specific, is an alternative public transportation for the citizen of Jakarta since it gives many benefits for them such as reducing traffic problems and pollution, making lives healthier and saving more money.

Bike station in Jakarta (ITDP Indonesia)

   
    First, a bike sharing system, having the potential to be integrated to other public transportation,  may reduce traffic problems and pollution. With its 10 million citizens, Jakarta is in urgent need to develop a new public transportation to help high mobility of its people. To run more effectively to reduce traffic congestion, bike sharing system should be integrated with the current public transportation such as Transjakarta, Commuter Line or MRT. This new system may serve as a feeder to other transportation especially to solve the problems of ‘last mile’ that connect a short mile between point A and point B.  Why bike system is a good alternative? The reason is that biking-sharing may reduce not only the distressing traffic congestion in Jakarta but it also reduces noise and air pollution. Traffic congestion makes car drivers or motor riders tired, impatient and reckless, which in turn cause many traffic accidents. Biking will also reduce noise pollution from cars and motorcycles which lead to headache and insomnia. Biking also minimize the gas emission of cars and motorcycles that produce toxic gas such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. As we know, air pollution can cause cough, asthma, and cancer besides environmental problem such as global warming. So, by using bike we can reduce traffic accidents because the number of cars and motorcycles are reduced. And also, the level of noise and air pollution can also be decreased.

   Second, bike sharing may also make the citizens of Jakarta healthier and save their money. People can reap the health benefits from biking since it is in fact a kind of fun and easy sport. Biking is good for body since it keeps our muscles move and protect you from serious illnesses such as stroke, depression and obesity. It also lower our blood pressure, improve our stamina, improve our balance and promote our psychological well-being. Biking is healthy and can be done by all ages. It fits in our daily routines if you want to ride to school, workplaces, many other public places or even some commercial areas.

   And third, bike-sharing saves money and time on the road. According to the Chief of Indonesian Transportation Community (MTI), the continuing traffic congestion in Jakarta cause the financial loss of $ 640 million per year. This includes fuel loss of the operating cost of vehicles and loss due to wasted time, not to mention the impact of air pollution as explained before. Bike-sharing can reduce the money we spend for fuel, since it is cost-effective system especially if it is integrated with other public transportation. As a non-polluting and cheap transportation, biking reduces losses in many aspects including financial loss. Bike-sharing system is inexpensive since it offers small amount of money for subscription that, for example, makes the first thirty minutes free or very cheap to encourage use of transportation. This is especially good for those who want to use bike but are worried about parking and damage or maintenance of their property.  Instead of buying their own bikes, they can just rent the bikes and park their bikes in some transit points.

   In conclusion, bike-sharing is one of the best alternatives to solve the problems of  transportation in big cities, especially in Jakarta. Though it may face some obstacles in the implementation such as land acquisition for some transit points, lack of funding, or promoting the need of biking to the citizen of  Jakarta, etc in the long run bike-sharing will be effective. Of course, support from the local government as well as participation of the people from all walks of life who life in the city will make this bike-sharing successful just like the success of its implementation in other big cities such as in Wuhan, Barcelona, London, Stockholm and many others. 

By : Anonymous