New Bandung to offer lots of excitement

After launching vintage-style double-decker tour buses on New Year’s Eve, which are said to begin operation before mid-2014, newly elected Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil inaugurated a new park earlier this month.

Thematic parks

Located just below the Pasupati Highway, the park was interestingly named Taman Jomblo (Jomblo Park) -- interesting because jomblo is a Sundanese word for ‘single’. The mayor reportedly said, half-jokingly, that the purpose of such a park is to accommodate the city's young singles, who can mingle in the 25-30 meter area.

Near Jomblo Park, two skate parks are under construction -- one intended for beginners and the other one for professional skaters. Passersby can already see curling walls being built on the site.

Altogether, the Bandung city administration is set to open up to seven thematic parks below the Pasupati Highway and at least six new parks throughout the city within this year.

These parks will give Bandung a fresh visual makeover, and its people are already enjoying several city corners that have been improved with more plants and flowers.

Since the end of last year, several public places, including parks, have also been equipped with free Wi-Fi as part of the city’s program Bandung Juara (Champion Bandung).

According to musician and Bandung native Arie Widiawan, who tried the free Wi-Fi facility at public places such as Bandung Indah Plaza shopping mall and Taman Pramuka park, the connection was quite satisfying.

“But users need to sign in first,” he explained, adding that the sign-in process was not complicated at all.

New stadium

Another exciting piece of progress this year is the ongoing construction of Stadion Gelora Bandung Lautan Api -- a stadium previously known as Gedebage Stadium -- in the Gedebage area.

This stadium will be the home base for the city’s football club, Persib Bandung.

Egga Kunstler, a big fan of the club, admitted that he is very excited about the new stadium as it will not only be very large in capacity but will also be equipped with LED billboard screens. Fans of the club are known locally as “bobotoh Persib”.

“It will be similarly grand and modern as the stadiums for the Premier League,” Egga added passionately, referring to the news he read on bobotoh Persib's website Simamaung.

Egga hoped that the new stadium would bring great luck for Persib Bandung and would enable it to become Indonesia's number one football club again -- reviving Persib Bandung’s glory years, which have long since passed.

Prepaid parking meters

In the Braga area, as of late December last year, several bright red boxes have been placed along the side of Jl. Braga. Those boxes are the city’s new prepaid parking meters.

Still on trial, the new system is one of the city’s latest strategies to reduce the faults of conventional parking contributions.

Parking attendants, dressed in bright orange uniforms -- which are an elaborated and more stylish version of the old uniform -- will assist drivers in using the new pre-paid parking meters.

For tourists, these bright red boxes and the new parking attendant uniforms give the famous Jl. Braga a fresh atmosphere of sophistication.

With so many improvements being made, and many projects ongoing, hopes are high and locals are optimistic that Bandung will soon become a more beautiful and comfortable city to live in and to travel to.