Photos & Words

The Balinese door

There is a backstreet on the way to the office. It is closed on both entries so that cars cannot go through. It must have been a popular streets with people looking for coffee and restaurants, for there are few abandoned buildings on bpoth side of this back street. This is the dilapidated entrance of a Balinese  rastaurant. I like this entrance. The metal doors. The rusting decorations. The bricks and cement hlding up the doors and that are wearing down, struggling against the tropical weather of Jakarta.

Rear wheel

There has been an interesting experiment going on in Jakarta this week. The city administration has suspended temporarily the 3-in-1 rule whereby at peak traffic times cars, on some of the more critical roads of the city, have to carry a minimum of three passengers (including the driver). This rule has resulted so called  Jockeys, people who are passengers for hire, waiting on the side of the streets to be picked up as the third person. The 3-in-1 rule has only marginally reduced the traffic congestion. Relaxing the rule has therefore resulted (on average) in a marginal increase in the traffic congestions, although, speaking to friends, it seems that traffic on main arteries has worsened considerably, while  smaller alternative roads seem to be more free of traffic.

In the meantime, it would be great if there were more bicycles in the streets, more commuters cycling to work, more bicycle lanes protecting cyclists, more parking space for bicycles. That would really make a difference.

Bike2Work