the organization moved to a bigger venue just recently and, after assigning office and meeting rooms, had still some space to spare. so they now offer a place to stay for travellers coming through jakarta. an indonesian couple was staying there as well who just finished their tour around the country. they are both deaf and so we couldn’t communicate a lot since sign language is yet another language on my list to learn. a photo of them taken on the top floor of the bike to work headquarters.
b2w was growing rapidly after a group of them was cycling to bali and met the president who took notice of the advocacy group. they’re slogan is to share the road rather than to rally against the motorized road users. as there are no bicycle lanes so far in jakarta, they advocate cycling until the number of cyclists reach a limit to eventually justify the investment in cycling lanes. during my stay i participated in two events. the friday night ride and on sunday the car-free day. they are very enthusiastic about their work which i admire, especially in a city where it is such hard work to get bicycles back on the streets. i arrived on a wednesday, the meeting day for the members to discuss future events and to delegate the work. i didn’t understand a lot but it seemed quite entertaining. since almost everyone is working on a voluntary basis, i think this is essential to keep up the motivation of everyone involved. after the meeting we took a picture in the lobby.
there is a post about my trip on their homepage in bahasa indonesia.
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