This morning, I was having my coffee and toast bread while skimming through the news. I found an interesting article that made me think about something I do every day here in Jakarta: to go to work by bicycle.
The French Ministry for Transport has launched a plan to incentivize the use of bicycles to commute to work by paying commuters 0,25 Euro per km. Not only this, the proposal includes as well the possibility to tune right (In France they drive on the right hand side of the road) when the traffic light is red, save and dedicated parking places. The Ministry intends to pilot this plan in collaboration with some large companies.
It will be interesting to see how this experiment works and whether it will lead to an increase in the number of bicycles rushing along the roads and streets of Paris towards office buildings and work places.The budget put forward by the French Ministry is 110ml Euro. The return on investment is a determined by a combination of reduced cost associated to traffic congestions, reduce emissions, improvements in health with associated reduction in health costs. A representatives from the Ministry has estimated that the economic return can be up to 2o times the investment.
I read the news and thought that it would be nice if something like this would be tried in Jakarta as well. Bicycles and bicycle riders are a rare species during rush hours when roads are congested by motorbikes and cars.
The construction of a MRT system has started last October and is expected to cost $1.5 billion, that is $1.500.000.000. So, how about a pilot scheme of $50.000.000 to build/restore some bicycle (protected) paths and pilot a subsidy scheme for riders? It could consist in tax deductions, or a dedicated bankcard, or load for a pre-paid mobile phones. Technology for this is available and is cheap. Moreover $100.000.000 is just about 3% of the MRT project total cost. Possible? Impossible? What do you think?Jakarta
AP