City parking attendants against hike<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Parking attendants working for the city-owned parking operator BP
\nPerparkiran, said that more transparency and better management
\nwas needed before any rate hikes went into effect.<\/p>\n
"There should be no increase until someone follows the trail
\nof money, to see where it leaks out at," said a parking attendant
\nin Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, who wished to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n
The parking attendant, who has worked at the same location in
\nfront of a bank for 20 years, said "If I were enjoying the money,
\nI would be driving a car like my supervisor."<\/p>\n
He added that because of the lack of transparency in handling
\nthe fees collected, even getting drivers to pay the current rate
\nof Rp 1,000 (about 11 U.S. cents) was difficult at times. "What
\nwill happen when it increases?"<\/p>\n
Last week, the city administration proposed tripling the flat
\nfee on-street parking rate from Rp 1,000 to Rp 3,000. Several
\nJakarta city councilors, however, have made it clear that at most
\nthey would approve a 100 percent increase. A number of councilors
\nhave also called for BP Perparkiran to be more transparent.<\/p>\n
Dolan, not his real name, a 45-year-old attendant at Gajah
\nMada, West Jakarta, said: "If there is an increase, the money
\nwould only be gobbled up by the people at the BP Perparkiran
\noffice."<\/p>\n
Dolan, who has been able to support his wife and five children
\nby working as a parking attendant for 23 years, said that based
\non his experience, an increase would not translate into more
\nincome for him as the amount of money he had to store to his
\nsupervisor would automatically rise.<\/p>\n
"Hence, if the fee increases to Rp 2,000, then I'll ask for Rp
\n3,000. Otherwise, I'd go broke," said Dolan, who has already been
\nquoting drivers a Rp 2,000 fee for almost two years.<\/p>\n
Zaim, 46, who is a parking attendant in Senayan, Central
\nJakarta, said that if the fees were increased, BP Perparkiran's
\nmanagement would have to be more professional.<\/p>\n
"Sometimes our supervisors don't even provide the tickets,"
\nsaid Zaim, referring to the parking tickets required as receipt
\nfor payment "When a driver asks for a ticket and I don't have it,
\nI can't demand payment."<\/p>\n
Zaim, wearing the official light-blue uniform for city parking
\nattendants, added that the daily amount he had to hand to the
\nhead parking attendant was not dependent on the number of tickets
\nhanded out.<\/p>\n
"I give him Rp 50,000 and take home the rest," said Zaim, who
\nmakes roughly Rp 40,000 each day.<\/p>\n
BP Perparkiran recently said that last year's revenue from its
\nparking operations totaled Rp 14 billion, not enough to cover
\nits Rp 17 billion operating costs. It was the sixth straight year
\nthat BP Perparkiran experienced a deficit.<\/p>\n
Based on the revenue figure released and using the current
\nrate of Rp 1,000, on average 38 thousand of the 3.8 million
\nregistered vehicles in Jakarta used BP Perparkiran's facilities
\ndaily in 2004. BP Perparkiran is tasked by the Jakarta governor
\nto manage on-street parking on more than 500 roads in Jakarta.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/city-parking-attendants-against-hike-1447893297",
"image": ""
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