Parking is one big headache<\/p>\n
By Johannes Simbolon and Lenah Susianty<\/p>\n
What's wrong with Jakarta's parking system? The city's parking
\nrevenues are always far below target and poor management leads to
\ncomplaints about poor service and facilities. The following
\narticle looks at the problem and the efforts to solve it.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Ever since it was established in 1972, the city
\nparking authority has been criticized. Poor service, no guarantee
\nof security and revenue losses are its main problems.<\/p>\n
BP Parkir, initially called Parkir Jaya, took over the city's
\nparking problem from gangsters.<\/p>\n
Over the past few years it has begun to make some money. In
\n1991\/1992, it collected about Rp 3 billion, far below the Rp 6
\nbillion earned in Surabaya with one third the vehicles. In
\n1993\/1994, revenues rose to Rp 8.5 billion and the company hopes
\nto pull in Rp 11.5 billion this year.<\/p>\n
\"Since I took office in 1992, the budgeting system has
\nchanged. All the revenues go directly to the municipality through
\nBank DKI, while the operating costs are funded by the municipal
\nbudget. Previously, BP Parkir used the revenues to fund its
\noperations, then gave the remaining funds to the municipality,
\nwhich I think was difficult to control,\" BP Parkir's director,
\nSumaryono, explained.<\/p>\n
The growth in revenue is still low compared to the number of
\nvehicles. The 1.7 million vehicles in the city make parking lots
\na gold mine. City councilor Muhammad Rodja' once estimated that
\nif 400,000 cars parked once a day, BP Parkir could earn Rp 120
\nmillion a day or over Rp 43 billion per year.<\/p>\n
Sumaryono points out that not all motorists park in parking
\nlots under the control of BP Parkir. Under law, private
\nfacilities may organize their own parking, but must give BP
\nParkir 25 percent of their revenues. Only 202 facilities here
\nwillingly pay the 25 percent cut while some others with lucrative
\nparking lots, including Ancol, Senayan sports complex, Taman Mini
\nPark, the 160 markets owned by PD Pasar Jaya, Ragunan Zoo, refuse
\nto pay BP Parkir.<\/p>\n
BP Parkir also makes money from parking lots in Blok M,
\nMayestik, Pasar Pagi Glodok, Taman Irti Monas and along the
\nstreets. There were more than 600 streets where motorists could
\npark in 1988, now there are about 200. The rest have been changed
\ninto no-parking zones.<\/p>\n
History<\/p>\n
Until 1972, parking was controlled by gangs. Among the parking
\nbosses of the period were Wakiman from Surabaya, East Java, who
\nreigned over the Blok M Bus Terminal and its vicinity with his
\ngang. Sinaga, from Medan, North Sumatra, was a soldier and
\ncontrolled Jl. Sabang (now Jl. H. Agus Salim). Above them all,
\nwas the legendary Samin Kitjot. He controlled Pasar Baru and its
\nvicinity.<\/p>\n
The bosses divvied their turf according to the number of
\nelectricity poles found in the area. One attendant looked after
\nthe plot between two poles. The attendants paid a daily fee
\ndetermined by the bosses. The bosses were like feudal lords
\nleasing their land to their vassals. The rent never changed. If
\nan attendant had a bad day, he had to draw on his savings, if
\nany, to pay the rent.<\/p>\n
The municipality had trouble taking over the lots in 1972
\nbecause they faced men who were ready to kill and die for their
\nlivelihood. Only after Parkir Jaya provided the parking bosses a
\nplace in the organization and allowed the attendants to keep
\ntheir jobs was the takeover completed. The army was also moved in
\nto facilitate the transition.<\/p>\n
Parkir Jaya, later renamed BP Parkir, simply adopted the old
\nsystem. The attendants worked the same lots their former bosses
\nhad assigned them. They now paid their rent to Parkir Jaya.<\/p>\n
\"They still apply the system I created,\" boasts Samin.<\/p>\n
Some years later, the BP Parkir introduced the receipt system.
\nThe company hoped to collect money based on the number of tickets
\ndistributed to motorists. Despite the new method, the feudal
\nsystem is still applied along the street's of the city.<\/p>\n
Only parking attendants working under the ticket system
\nreceive fixed salaries. Those paying rent, about 2,500 of BP
\nParkir's 3,600 employees, live on whatever is left over. BP
\nParkir provides the latter with blocks of tickets in case
\nmotorists ask for the worthless piece of paper.<\/p>\n
\"This is just a formality, or whatever you want to call it,\"
\nsays smiling Lubis, 45, pointing to the two blocks of parking
\nreceipts in his pocket. He used to work for Buyung and has tended
\nhis strip along Jl. H Agus Salim for two decades.<\/p>\n
Social ill<\/p>\n
Sub-systems abound. If a parking attendant is too ill or lazy
\nto work, he hires a youngster and puts the kid in his uniform.
\nAttendants working busy areas sub-contract their lots for a
\nportion of the take. BP Parkir reportedly takes no issue with
\nthis practice as long as the original parking attendant pays his
\nrent and the hired youngster wears the uniform neatly.<\/p>\n
\"If you meet a parking attendant on the side of the street
\nwho's still young, he must be an assistant to the original
\nparking attendant,\" explains Lubis.<\/p>\n
Sumaryono asserts that there is no alternative system because
\nthe parking public are ignorant about the receipts.<\/p>\n
\"The public can help build a better system if they always ask
\nfor a ticket -- but they don't. If they did we could trash the
\nrent system,\" he asserted.<\/p>\n
He also believes money leakages probably occur in the system.<\/p>\n
\"I admit there are leakages, but not in the way or as much as
\nmost of the public think,\" says Sumaryono.<\/p>\n
Sumaryono sees the leakages as a necessary cost incurred to
\nheal some social ills in Jakarta. The money keeps these ills at
\nbay.<\/p>\n
\"The attendants have dark backgrounds and aren't educated. We
\ncan't expect very much honesty from them. It pleases me enough
\nthat they now, in away, serve the public,\" Sumaryono insisted.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/parking-is-one-big-headache-1447893297",
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