'Parking rate hikes must follow good system'

'Parking rate hikes must follow good system'

Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Now that parking rates in Jakarta have in practice already been increased, the move should be followed by providing decent public transportation to ease the city's notorious traffic jams, experts have said.

Motorists should be left with no other choice but to leave their cars at home by raising on-street parking rates, while the administration should approve the recent off-street rate increase, said Azas Tigor Nainggolan, chairman of the Jakarta Society Forum (Fakta), said.

However, the administration should provide better public transportation as an alternative, so that ultimately this policy will significantly reduce traffic in the city, he told The Jakarta Post.

Last week, a number of private parking operators raised their off-street parking rates by up to 100 percent, without the approval of either the city's governor or the City Council.

Moreover, a pilot project is underway in five areas across the city to impose an hourly rate for on-street parking, which the administration is planning to apply throughout Jakarta by the end of this year.

"It is a good thing that the parking rates are gradually increased, but the rise should be followed by providing decent public transportation," Ofyar Z. Tamin, a traffic expert from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), told the Post last Thursday.

He even suggested that the parking rates should be raised to up to Rp 10,000 (approximately US$1.20) per hour, but only if an alternative for the motorists was first provided.

To ease traffic congestion, the administration should simultaneously apply various policies, such as building appropriate infrastructure for public transportation, imposing an alternate driving day scheme and a more stringent three-in-one rule, as well as reducing on-street parking spaces, the civil engineering professor said.

However, Ofyar said that raising the on-street parking rates was not enough, and suggested that the city administration ban parking on the streets.

Ideally, 30 percent of Jakarta's total area of 661.62 square kilometers should be used for roads, whereas at present only 10 percent is provided, he said.

He added that out of the 10 percent, only 6 percent is effectively utilized for traffic purposes because the remaining 4 percent is used by street vendors and on-street parking.

"Yet, the main reason why on-street parking must be eliminated is that the income from the fees is not on a par with what other motorists have sacrificed," Ofyar said.

He said that the annual income from parking fees reaches an average of Rp 20 billion, while the losses suffered by the motorists every day because of traffic congestion is estimated at Rp 5 billion a day, or Rp 1.2 trillion a year.