'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.