Why Illegal Parking Never Disappears in Jakarta?

JAKARTA - As the sun begins to set and market stalls start opening, the roadside in front of the entrance to Pasar Ikan Jatinegara in East Jakarta transforms into an illegal parking area.

Alongside the busy traders setting up on the pavements, parking attendants stand ready at the roadside to direct every arriving visitor to park their vehicles on the shoulder.

“Park here, come on,” the parking attendants shout whenever a visitor arrives, on Monday night (11/5/2025).

Meanwhile, the width of the road in front of Pasar Ikan Jatinegara is around 10 to 12 metres, divided into two lanes.

Of that 12-metre width, about six metres are impassable because they are filled with hundreds of parked motorbikes.

The parking attendants neatly arrange the motorbikes, packing them tightly into three rows on the roadway.

For visitors arriving by car, they are directed to park on private land owned by local residents, so as not to occupy the roadway or pavements.

“If it’s a car, it’s on private land. This is public road,” said an illegal parking attendant named Dodi (not his real name, 40) when met by Kompas.com at the location on Monday night.

Visitors enter and exit the illegal parking area using the roadway almost every minute.

As the night progresses, the roadside parking becomes increasingly crowded. Visitors to Pasar Ikan Jatinegara start arriving towards midnight.

With so many visitors, he cannot count how many motorbikes are parked.

Clearly, the parking fee for motorbikes is Rp 3,000, while for cars it is Rp 10,000.

These fees result in turnover for the illegal parking attendants in front of Pasar Jatinegara reaching millions of rupiah in one night.

“Yes, on Saturday nights it can reach around Rp 5 million,” said Dodi.

Moreover, at night, the limited parking area switches function to become fish trader stalls.

Therefore, visitors’ vehicles utilise the roadway in front of Pasar Ikan Jatinegara for parking.

Dodi recounted that the viral illegal parking in front of the East Jakarta Metropolitan Police Resort on social media has impacted his business.

Because the illegal parking at Pasar Ikan Jatinegara was also cracked down on by officers from the DKI Jakarta Transportation Agency (Dishub) on Monday night around 8:00 PM WIB.

“Yes, that’s just a formality because it’s gone viral. There’s parking at the health centre too, it was dispersed there yesterday afternoon. Just a formality, told to clear it first, now one block,” Dodi explained.

The crackdown that is only a formality allows illegal parking in front of Pasar Ikan Jatinegara to continue spreading every night.

However, whereas illegal parking on the roadside usually starts in the afternoon, now it begins after 8:00 PM WIB when the situation is deemed safe.

Several visitors admitted they were forced to leave their vehicles on the roadside due to the absence of official parking at Pasar Ikan Jatinegara.

“When I arrive, I’m directly directed to park on the roadside and other motorbikes are already crowded, so I feel like oh, this must be the parking,” said one visitor to Pasar Ikan Jatinegara named Laras (32) when interviewed by Kompas.com at the location on Monday night.

She admitted that if there were official parking, she would certainly choose to park there for greater safety.

On the other hand, Laras is not opposed to paying the illegal parking attendants as long as they do not force or act arrogantly.