No benefits from higher parking fees: Experts

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Experts doubted on Monday whether raising parking fees would reduce the number of vehicles entering the capital and help solve traffic congestion here.

Transportation observer Suyono Dikun said on Monday that the congestion problems in Jakarta had become so complicated that they could not be solved by raising parking fees alone.

"Jakarta needs comprehensive solutions to traffic problems. I think raising parking fees won't be effective in this regard," he told The Jakarta Post.

Suyono noted that new vehicles continued to arrive in the city after the government raised fuel prices steeply.

"That's because motorists don't have any other choices in the face of the bad public transportation system," he said.

The government raised gasoline prices from Rp 2,400 to Rp 4,500 a liter and diesel fuel from Rp 2,100 to Rp 4,300 early this month. The subsidy cut was aimed at saving money for the national budget after fuel prices surged above US$60 a barrel on international market.

Recently, parking operator PT Securindo Packtama, better known as Secure Parking, suggested it planned to seek an increase in off-street parking fees from the current Rp 2,000 an to Rp 4,000 an hour.

Although Secure Parking, which controls 60 percent of off- street parking areas in the capital, has not formally submitted its request, Governor Sutiyoso has already thrown his support behind the move, arguing that the policy would discourage people from taking their cars out on the city's streets.

However, Andi Rahmah, a researcher at Pelangi, a non- governmental organization concerned with city transportation and environment, said raising parking fees would not solve the city's problems.

"Raising parking fees aims to force residents to change from using private cars to using public transportation. How can they do that if we don't have good public transportation. Private car owners will only pay higher fuel prices or parking fees for convenient travel," she told the Post.

Suyono and Andi agreed that raising parking fees should be seen as one part of a comprehensive solution to congestion and pollution problems in Jakarta.

"The administration has no choice but to establish good public transportation so that private car owners voluntarily give up their habit of taking their cars to the office, business centers or malls," Rahmah said.

Data released by the Jakarta traffic police showed that last year there were at least 6.4 million vehicles on city roads a day, more than 70 percent of which were private cars.