City to introduce new parking system

JAKARTA (JP): The City Parking Agency will introduce a new street parking system to provide better service to residents, an official said on Thursday.

"We will implement the new system in a trial period from next Monday until March 31 in an operation named Operasi Raih Simpati (Sympathy Operation) throughout the city," the agency's deputy head Bubung Burhana told reporters at City Hall.

"The trial period will be imposed at the National Monument (Monas) parking lot and on Jl. Agus Salim in Central Jakarta, on Jl. Jatinegara Timur in East Jakarta, on Jl. Pluit Sakti Raya in North Jakarta, at the Blok M parking area in South Jakarta and on Jl. Gajah Mada in West Jakarta."

The official street parking fee is set at Rp 300 (4 US cents) for cars and Rp 100 for motorcycles. Off-street parking fees for cars is Rp 300 for the first two hours and Rp 200 for each ensuing hour, and Rp 100 for motorcycles for the first two hours and each ensuing hour.

Bubung said drivers didn't have to pay valets anymore for parking services in the new system. Instead, they have to pay to the fee collectors.

"We will separate the functions of guiding the vehicles and collecting the parking fees," he said.

With the new system, drivers will be given a ticket when they park their cars. The ticket has three sections to be distributed to the driver, the valet, and the collector.

"There will be 148 valets and 74 collectors involved in the trial period. We will also deploy a team of supervisors in each trial area," Bubung said, while citing that there were some 2,500 registered valets at his agency.

Currently, the valets guide the drivers and collect the fees from drivers as well. Sometimes, they do not provide good service as they rush to guide other drivers.

The agency collected some Rp 6 billion last year and has been the target of criticism from city residents and city councilors for its inefficiency.

"The inefficiency is partly the reason why we are holding this operation. We are trying to intensify revenues from parking without hiking the fees," he said.

"With the new system, the valets can concentrate on guiding the drivers," Bubung said.

He said the new system was aimed at increasing the parking valets' welfare by providing a constant daily income.

"We don't give monthly salaries as it decreases the valets' productivity. Each valet will get Rp 7,500 a day to compensate for meals and transportation," he added, while saying the valets need not worry about their daily fee targets anymore.

"They will also receive Rp 50 per ticket section they receive from drivers. Another Rp 50 goes to other officials such as the collectors and supervisors."

Bubung said the agency controls parking spaces in more than 640 streets as stipulated in a 1988 gubernatorial decree.

"However, there are only some 300 streets available for street parking activities," he said.

"There will be an additional 517 streets to be used as street parking locations as stipulated in the 2000 gubernatorial decree No. 177."

He said there were five off-street parking facilities in addition to the street parking.

"The facilities are two parking lots in Blok M and Mayestik, both in South Jakarta, two parking buildings in Glodok, West Jakarta and Istana Pasar Baru, Central Jakarta, and a parking field in Kramat Tunggak, North Jakarta," he said.

He, however, admitted that the fee would be increased next April as stipulated in the 1999 City Bylaw No. 3 on City Retribution.

"There will be two new fees. Vehicles grouped in Group A will have to pay Rp 1,000 and those in Group B will pay Rp 500," he said without giving any elaboration.

Separately on Thursday, the city councilors discussed the possibility of transferring parking management to private companies. (05)