City parking attendants against hike

City parking attendants against hike

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

Parking attendants working for the city-owned parking operator BP
Perparkiran, said that more transparency and better management
was needed before any rate hikes went into effect.

"There should be no increase until someone follows the trail
of money, to see where it leaks out at," said a parking attendant
in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, who wished to remain anonymous.

The parking attendant, who has worked at the same location in
front of a bank for 20 years, said "If I were enjoying the money,
I would be driving a car like my supervisor."

He added that because of the lack of transparency in handling
the fees collected, even getting drivers to pay the current rate
of Rp 1,000 (about 11 U.S. cents) was difficult at times. "What
will happen when it increases?"

Last week, the city administration proposed tripling the flat
fee on-street parking rate from Rp 1,000 to Rp 3,000. Several
Jakarta city councilors, however, have made it clear that at most
they would approve a 100 percent increase. A number of councilors
have also called for BP Perparkiran to be more transparent.

Dolan, not his real name, a 45-year-old attendant at Gajah
Mada, West Jakarta, said: "If there is an increase, the money
would only be gobbled up by the people at the BP Perparkiran
office."

Dolan, who has been able to support his wife and five children
by working as a parking attendant for 23 years, said that based
on his experience, an increase would not translate into more
income for him as the amount of money he had to store to his
supervisor would automatically rise.

"Hence, if the fee increases to Rp 2,000, then I'll ask for Rp
3,000. Otherwise, I'd go broke," said Dolan, who has already been
quoting drivers a Rp 2,000 fee for almost two years.

Zaim, 46, who is a parking attendant in Senayan, Central
Jakarta, said that if the fees were increased, BP Perparkiran's
management would have to be more professional.

"Sometimes our supervisors don't even provide the tickets,"
said Zaim, referring to the parking tickets required as receipt
for payment "When a driver asks for a ticket and I don't have it,
I can't demand payment."

Zaim, wearing the official light-blue uniform for city parking
attendants, added that the daily amount he had to hand to the
head parking attendant was not dependent on the number of tickets
handed out.

"I give him Rp 50,000 and take home the rest," said Zaim, who
makes roughly Rp 40,000 each day.

BP Perparkiran recently said that last year's revenue from its
parking operations totaled Rp 14 billion, not enough to cover
its Rp 17 billion operating costs. It was the sixth straight year
that BP Perparkiran experienced a deficit.

Based on the revenue figure released and using the current
rate of Rp 1,000, on average 38 thousand of the 3.8 million
registered vehicles in Jakarta used BP Perparkiran's facilities
daily in 2004. BP Perparkiran is tasked by the Jakarta governor
to manage on-street parking on more than 500 roads in Jakarta.