Parking attendants to be outfitted with PDAs
Parking attendants to be outfitted with PDAs
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Scheduled to be launched on May 26, Jakarta's new on-street
parking system with 180 of its 2,900 parking attendants involved
in unique pilot project wherein they will be equipped with hand-
held computers worth Rp 17.15 million (approximately US$1990)
each.
The city's new "tech-trendsetting" parking attendants will be
positioned in five locations across the city in the initial
phase, and armed with Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs),
specially modified for parking fee collection.
The PDAs will help the parking attendants collect parking fees
electronically from motorists, so no cash would be needed in the
transactions, an official said.
Kunto Wibisono, vice general manager of the system operator,
PT Adiwira Sembada, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that all
parking attendants on duty will be held responsible for the PDAs
in their charge, including the memory card and 20-centimeter-long
attached printer.
The company had in stock 200 ready-to-use PDAs along with the
supporting equipment, he said.
He explained that the price would cover mostly the cost of the
software, which, he claimed, was the first in the world.
"We are in the process of registering the patent for both the
hardware and software," he said.
The use of the PDAs is limited to parking transactions only,
including refills for parking cards. Kunto said, however, they
had yet to determine the initial price of the parking cards or
where they could be purchased.
Kunto said that to ensure optimum utilization of the PDAs, the
parking attendants will be trained in their use this month.
He was optimistic that the city could expect a significant
increase in city revenues because the use of PDAs would eliminate
the possibility of embezzlement of the parking fees.
The system is planned for eventual application all over
Jakarta, whose 2,900 parking attendants are also to be equipped
with the same gadgets by the end of the year in order to collect
parking fees at 14,992 parking spots across the city.