Ahmad Khoirul Sholeh Prawiranegara

Cycling: Different Country, Different Interest

Travelling is part of human life. People do a lot of traveling in their life. They go anywhere using vehicle or even just on foot. Formerly, people have developed some kinds of vehicle since the invention of wheel to help them traveling. As a result, we can find many kinds of vehicle surround us, such as bicycle. Bicycle was the main transportation unit in the 19th century. Due to the invention of motorcycle and car, people have forgotten bicycle. Now, in this modern era on which motorcycles and cars are produced massively, many people prefer to use bicycle for traveling. They use bicycle to go to school, work, or just for recreation. This phenomenon can be found both in developed and developing country, for example in Japan and Indonesia. People in these countries have a significant economy gap, but what are their reasons to go cycling? These following aspects are their consideration to go cycling.
To begin with, public facilities have important role in creating people interest to go cycling. As we know, public facilities in developed country are more complete and better than the developing country have. One of the examples is parking lot. A good parking lot is very important to convince people leaving their vehicle, especially cycle, during their activities in certain place. Parking lot in Japan is wonderfully neat, secure, and cheap. We can park our bicycle easily in a parking tower, the parking system in Japan. Using registered card, we only have to put our bicycle in a bicycle lift and swipe the card in the payment machine. Then our bicycle will be automatically parked. It is also easy to take our bicycle. We only have to swipe the card again and the bicycle will come to us. Remember, once we use the card we have to keep it, otherwise we cannot take our bike again. The cost to park a bicycle is cheaper than other vehicle because it uses less space than other vehicle. Compare to Indonesian parking lot, Japanese parking system will be very contrast. Indonesian parking system, especially for bicycle is really messy. We do not have to pay in a parking lot if we use bicycle and put our bike in a very small space in the parking lot. The security never checks whether the one who take the bicycle is the real owner or not. Even though it is cheap, but the security is forgotten by the security guard. It makes us worry to leave our bicycle during our activities. The implication is the number of person who goes cycling in Japan is higher than in Indonesia due to a good parking system.
Then, it is no wondering that convenience and safety cause cycling is more common in Japan. People will feel convenience if the condition in the street is conducive. We can see it through the street conditions. Japanese street is flat and other vehicle is respectful to others. They will give preference to the vehicle which is smaller and slower. Bikers will not be afraid of being hit by car or motorcycle. Unlike in Japan, the condition in Indonesia is horrible. The street, as we know, is full of holes and wavy. It is dangerous for the street user because when the night comes the holes are unseen and the wavy street might cause the rider slipped down. Besides people behavior in the street, especially in the big city, is very wild. They do not respect other people in the street. They will do anything to go to their destination as fast as they can. For example, they will overtake other’s way which moves slower than them. It is terribly dangerous. It is possible to cause an accident. Most of Indonesian people are afraid to ride bicycle in a crowded street. They are considering their safety and convenience when they ride vehicle, especially bicycle.
Besides those differences, they still have some similar reasons. The first reason is they want to be healthy. In this modern era when people busy of working, they have no spare time to exercise. Normally, a person has to do exercise four times a week. We have to move our body to keep our healthy. Several modern diseases are caused by less exercise. For some busy person, bike to work is one of the solutions to keep their health. They still can have exercise in their daily routines. Besides the reason above, people want to reduce the air pollution. Recently, world is getting hot. All countries in the world are facing global warming. Fortunately, some people are campaigning bicycle to work to reduce the air pollution and stop the global warming. They suggest people to use bicycle to go anywhere. These phenomena are happened throughout the world.
In summary, people, especially Japanese and Indonesian, have some consideration to choose cycling as their way of travelling. Some reasons give different effect towards their interest in cycling such as, security, parking system, safety, and convenience on the street. Meanwhile, people have similar interest when they consider about keeping their health and reducing the air pollution. Whatever the reasons are, cycling habit grows gradually throughout the world.




OUTLINE

Thesis Statement: These following aspects are their consideration to go cycling.

Body Paragraph:
1. Topic sentence: To begin with, public facilities have important role in creating people interest to go cycling.
• Fact in the developed country
• Fact in the developing country
2. Topic sentence: Then, it is no wondering that convenience and safety cause cycling is more common in Japan.
• Fact in the developed country
• Fact in the developing country
3. Topic sentence: Besides those differences, they still have some similar reasons.
• Keeping their health
• Reducing air pollution

Concluding Paragraph: In summary, people, especially Japanese and Indonesian, have some consideration to choose cycling as their way of travelling.