Parking scheme proves unpopular

Parking scheme proves unpopular

Zakki Hakim and Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A week after the new controversial on-street parking system was
implemented, Governor Sutiyoso finally admitted on Monday that it
did not work as expected.

He blamed the operator, PT Adiwira Sembada, for being
unprofessional and not serious in managing the voucher parking
system. The governor gave the operator three months to improve
its performance, otherwise the administration would find another
investor to handle the new system, which is expected to
contribute Rp 32 billion to the city budget this year.

City Hall spokesman Achyat M. Awe said Sutiyoso was concerned
about three points: One, the field manager of the company was not
professional; two, the operator did not hold public campaigns to
introduce the project; and three, it only invested a small amount
of money. Achyat, however, refused to reveal the amount the
company had invested in the new system.

However, Sutiyoso stressed that he would maintain the voucher
system as he believed that the system would prevent fund leakage.

Achyat said that all locations designated for the on-street
parking system should have switched to the new system three
months after the pilot project was launched.

The system has been implemented on five streets: Jl. Agus
Salim, Central Jakarta; Jl. Gadjah Mada, West Jakarta; Jl. Raden
Patah, South Jakarta; Jl. Bulevar Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta;
and Jl. Jatinegara, East Jakarta.

The system, however, has turned out to be less than appealing
for most motorists.

According to parking attendants and officials on Jl. Bulevar,
Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, only about a hundred vouchers had
been sold to motorists, whereas The Jakarta Post observed that
more than 100 cars were parked along the street, with a high
turnover.

Meanwhile, on Jl. Gajah Mada, most parking attendants
complained that during the past week they had each served, on
average, only one motorist who willingly used the vouchers to pay
their parking fees.

Jaya, a driver, said that it was too much trouble for him to
use the new system because he had to walk quite far under the
scorching sun in order to purchase a voucher.

"It will be more convenient for me just to pay Rp 1,000 rather
than walk to the voucher outlets and have to pay up to Rp 5,000,"
he said.

Furthermore, Jaya said, none of the parking attendants had
actually offered the new system to him.

This was also the case with shop owners along the street, most
of whom claimed that they had never received any information
regarding the new system from parking authorities, although their
pick-up trucks made deliveries almost every day.

Under the new system, parking attendants are equipped with a
PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) worth Rp 17 million, or several
times higher than the market price.

Observers had criticized the system and suspected that it
would only benefit a few corrupt officials instead of the public.