Parking is one big headache

Parking is one big headache

By Johannes Simbolon and Lenah Susianty

What's wrong with Jakarta's parking system? The city's parking
revenues are always far below target and poor management leads to
complaints about poor service and facilities. The following
article looks at the problem and the efforts to solve it.

JAKARTA (JP): Ever since it was established in 1972, the city
parking authority has been criticized. Poor service, no guarantee
of security and revenue losses are its main problems.

BP Parkir, initially called Parkir Jaya, took over the city's
parking problem from gangsters.

Over the past few years it has begun to make some money. In
1991/1992, it collected about Rp 3 billion, far below the Rp 6
billion earned in Surabaya with one third the vehicles. In
1993/1994, revenues rose to Rp 8.5 billion and the company hopes
to pull in Rp 11.5 billion this year.

"Since I took office in 1992, the budgeting system has
changed. All the revenues go directly to the municipality through
Bank DKI, while the operating costs are funded by the municipal
budget. Previously, BP Parkir used the revenues to fund its
operations, then gave the remaining funds to the municipality,
which I think was difficult to control," BP Parkir's director,
Sumaryono, explained.

The growth in revenue is still low compared to the number of
vehicles. The 1.7 million vehicles in the city make parking lots
a gold mine. City councilor Muhammad Rodja' once estimated that
if 400,000 cars parked once a day, BP Parkir could earn Rp 120
million a day or over Rp 43 billion per year.

Sumaryono points out that not all motorists park in parking
lots under the control of BP Parkir. Under law, private
facilities may organize their own parking, but must give BP
Parkir 25 percent of their revenues. Only 202 facilities here
willingly pay the 25 percent cut while some others with lucrative
parking lots, including Ancol, Senayan sports complex, Taman Mini
Park, the 160 markets owned by PD Pasar Jaya, Ragunan Zoo, refuse
to pay BP Parkir.

BP Parkir also makes money from parking lots in Blok M,
Mayestik, Pasar Pagi Glodok, Taman Irti Monas and along the
streets. There were more than 600 streets where motorists could
park in 1988, now there are about 200. The rest have been changed
into no-parking zones.

History

Until 1972, parking was controlled by gangs. Among the parking
bosses of the period were Wakiman from Surabaya, East Java, who
reigned over the Blok M Bus Terminal and its vicinity with his
gang. Sinaga, from Medan, North Sumatra, was a soldier and
controlled Jl. Sabang (now Jl. H. Agus Salim). Above them all,
was the legendary Samin Kitjot. He controlled Pasar Baru and its
vicinity.

The bosses divvied their turf according to the number of
electricity poles found in the area. One attendant looked after
the plot between two poles. The attendants paid a daily fee
determined by the bosses. The bosses were like feudal lords
leasing their land to their vassals. The rent never changed. If
an attendant had a bad day, he had to draw on his savings, if
any, to pay the rent.

The municipality had trouble taking over the lots in 1972
because they faced men who were ready to kill and die for their
livelihood. Only after Parkir Jaya provided the parking bosses a
place in the organization and allowed the attendants to keep
their jobs was the takeover completed. The army was also moved in
to facilitate the transition.

Parkir Jaya, later renamed BP Parkir, simply adopted the old
system. The attendants worked the same lots their former bosses
had assigned them. They now paid their rent to Parkir Jaya.

"They still apply the system I created," boasts Samin.

Some years later, the BP Parkir introduced the receipt system.
The company hoped to collect money based on the number of tickets
distributed to motorists. Despite the new method, the feudal
system is still applied along the street's of the city.

Only parking attendants working under the ticket system
receive fixed salaries. Those paying rent, about 2,500 of BP
Parkir's 3,600 employees, live on whatever is left over. BP
Parkir provides the latter with blocks of tickets in case
motorists ask for the worthless piece of paper.

"This is just a formality, or whatever you want to call it,"
says smiling Lubis, 45, pointing to the two blocks of parking
receipts in his pocket. He used to work for Buyung and has tended
his strip along Jl. H Agus Salim for two decades.

Social ill

Sub-systems abound. If a parking attendant is too ill or lazy
to work, he hires a youngster and puts the kid in his uniform.
Attendants working busy areas sub-contract their lots for a
portion of the take. BP Parkir reportedly takes no issue with
this practice as long as the original parking attendant pays his
rent and the hired youngster wears the uniform neatly.

"If you meet a parking attendant on the side of the street
who's still young, he must be an assistant to the original
parking attendant," explains Lubis.

Sumaryono asserts that there is no alternative system because
the parking public are ignorant about the receipts.

"The public can help build a better system if they always ask
for a ticket -- but they don't. If they did we could trash the
rent system," he asserted.

He also believes money leakages probably occur in the system.

"I admit there are leakages, but not in the way or as much as
most of the public think," says Sumaryono.

Sumaryono sees the leakages as a necessary cost incurred to
heal some social ills in Jakarta. The money keeps these ills at
bay.

"The attendants have dark backgrounds and aren't educated. We
can't expect very much honesty from them. It pleases me enough
that they now, in away, serve the public," Sumaryono insisted.