Parking in Jakarta

Parking in Jakarta

From Neraca

Parking motor vehicles in Jakarta is more expensive than in
other cities in Indonesia. In Yogyakarta, parking your motorcycle
costs Rp 100 or Rp 200. In Jakarta, one pays Rp 500 for the same
service, which does not include the cost of storing your helmet
with the parking attendant for safekeeping.

If a motorist spends at least Rp 5,000 a day for gasoline, a
motorcyclist only needs about half of that amount. Thus,
relatively speaking, parking fees in Jakarta are expensive
compared to the expenditure for gasoline. If you go to several
places in the city, and every time must park your vehicle, the
amount of money spent for parking increases accordingly.

I suggest that parking fees in Jakarta be brought back to the
previous rates, i.e. Rp 200 or Rp 300 for motorcycles and Rp 500
for automobiles.

After all, parking in Jakarta is not fully secure. Parking
attendants are not responsible for losses because parking slips
state that losses are not the responsibility of the parking
management. All the risks at the parking lot are borne solely by
the people parking their vehicles.

The providers of parking facilities apparently are saying that
they only provide a site that is simply a public place where no
one but the government has authority. If the people who manage
parking in Jakarta are only parasites using public land, such as
sidewalks and empty lots, their presence is only a burden on the
community.

I hope parking facilities in Jakarta will be managed with the
objective of providing security for the vehicles parked there.
Parking lots should not be sites of extortion. They need to be
managed professionally and any losses must be the responsibility
of the management.

As for automobiles, parking fees should vary according to the
type of vehicle, like in Bangkok. There, the parking fee for a
Mercedes or a BMW is higher than for a commercial vehicle or a
minibus. This system could be adopted in Jakarta.

A. KAMIL

Jakarta