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.