Bike.BDG logo

Several months ago I posted about bicycle line, intrigued by a documentary video about How the Dutch Got Their Cycle Path. And what would you call a dream come true, although it’s not yet perfect? It turns out that Bandung has its own bike sharing facility now, launched on June 10th, 2012. [Here’s a post about Bike.BDG launching event, etc. at BCCF website, in Indonesian]

Of course security and safety are among the main issues here, but we have to start from something, by creating a certain mechanism that works for our specific conditions. The various ground elevations of Bandung might make it less appealing for people to use bicycle as a daily transportation method, for its impracticality. So Bike.BDG offers a service that mainly aims for short rides, to its 10 designated points in town. Anyone interested in using a bike should first sign up as a member, then s/he is entitled to rent a bike for IDR 3000/hour. So far, users of Bike.BDG are mostly people who are spending a leisure time during Car Free Days, where roads are closed for motored vehicles for a certain amount of time (usually on Sundays, from 6-10a.m.), or people who really needs to reach a distance without relying on angkot (Bandung’s public minibus) and private cars.

Ideally, Bike.BDG aims to reduce traffic jams in weekends and holidays by offering these bikes to visitors, who are suggested to park their private cars at the hotels and take the bike instead to go shopping and sight-seeing. Here are videos that promote the project:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aweVcjRc5m8]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0x7hFLrA7I]

Like all newly-started projects, this one is naturally not free from hiccups, but improvements happen along the way. Perhaps, in this stage, the most crucial thing is to let people (re-)experience the joy of biking, and, further, to make it possible for anyone to use the service without having to buy/own a bicycle. Then, hopefully – as with the case in The Netherlands – even politicians, authorities and decision-makers of the city become familiar with the pleasure of having a city dominated by bicycles, so they can create policies that accommodate city bikes.

It never hurts to build up a dream. Salute to all Bike.BDG volunteers and activators, hope the bike sharing system remains and grows!

How it works

All images belong to Bike.BDG. Further info:

Bike.BDG site: http://bikebdg.com/

Bike.BDG Tumblr: http://bikebdg.tumblr.com/