Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s decision to open bicycle lanes that will connect the suburbs with the city centre as part of an integrated cycling lane earned mixed reactions from citizens.
This was reflected in the response of the participants in an online poll conducted by the New Straits Times.
Of the more than 2,000 participants, around 50.1 percent disagreed with City Hall’s move, with many pointing to making pedestrian walkways safe and convenient first before opening bike lanes.
Many also expressed apprehension that an additional lane could lead to traffic congestion, reported The New Straits Times.
“The original width of the roads is designed to fit two or three cars. When you add a bicycle lane, it makes the lanes narrower and therefore more dangerous. People will also drive slower, leading to traffic congestion,” said Belteshazzar Abdul Rashid, an online poll participant.
“Secondly, the weather in Kuala Lumpur is not suitable for cycling. Especially when the trees were cut down. It became even hotter, making cycling a bad idea. So in short, no.”
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Another poll participant, Azwan Zainal Adnan, noted that the current bicycle lanes posed a danger to tourists and pedestrians in Kuala Lumpur as they had been abused by motorcyclists.
“Don’t waste public funds in building something that will be abused and cause danger to other road user,” he said.
The first bicycle lane linking the city centre and a major residential area is expected to be operational in about a year.
It will cover the Sungai Bunus reserves, going for four kilometres in between a park alongside the Wangsa Maju LRT station, and Jalan Raja Abdullah in Kampung Baru, before merging into the blue lane near KLCC.
The bicycle lane is expected to serve thousands of people living within a few kilometres of the reserves.
City Hall will likely break ground on the project in June, before connecting the city’s cycling network and other residential areas.
Image source from Doowaroda.com
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