People's Reasons

Indonesia is a beautiful tropical country which lies between Asia and Australia. Why do I start this post with that sentence? Because tropical climate, with constant hot temperature, and a lot of rain, is one of reasons why people in Indonesia don't like to ride their bike to get around. They don't like the sweat. Riding on a bike will definitely soaks you in your own sweat. And they don't want to get wet because of the rain which its rate is very high in tropical rainy season. Of course, this condition will make you think twice to ride your bike.

The second reason is cyclists need to struggle against the traffic. This is considered very dangerous by most people live in big cities in Indonesia. As i mentioned in earlier post, too many people see bikes as hindrance for other vehicle's mobility. And many drivers don't expect to find cyclists because not many people ride on their bike. This is very dangerous. Because you usually don't see what you're not looking for. As for the very basic rule for cyclists to commute is to ride defensively. Because bike will lose in collision with any vehicles. Remember, bikes don't kill people, cars do, a lot..

Third reason, most people, especially who work in Jakarta, live quite far from their workplace. They mostly live in suburban area of Jakarta or near the border between Jakarta and provinces around Jakarta. So they think riding a bike is not an option to go to work. They will end up driving cars, motorcycles, or public transportation.

Next reason, facility. No bike lane, no parking area for bikes. This is also reason why people don't use bike to get to somewhere. Facility for bikes is a simple way to know whether a society has a bike culture or not. Because government will definitely provide people with those facility if bike is part of people's daily life. Yup, Indonesia has not established bike culture. Even though many people in small town use bike a lot, but still, inside people's mind, once they get enough money to buy motorcycle they will but motorcycle and leave their bike, once they have enough money to buy car they will definitely buy car and leave their motorcycle.. But i think, considering the global warming issue, the government will think to provide us with bike lane to encourage people to ride their bike instead of drive their car.

Fifth reason, some cities in Indonesia are hilly. Bandung, my second city, lies in a very hilly ground with elevation around 600m above mean sea level. The contour of the city is not friendly for cyclist. People will definitely chose motorcycle and car. I think there are some other cities with same geographical feature. And this is a very strong reason not to ride their bike.

Hmm... I don't think these are all reasons. Maybe there are more.. But it's time to work now.. hehe..