City Council to summon parking operators, unit

The City Council has summoned the Parking Unit and 10 city parking operators following mounting
complaints over parking fees, a councilor said.  

“We want the officials to explain their fee monitoring systems,” councilor S. Andyka said on Tuesday.

He said a number of councilors from Commission B, which oversees the economy, had visited some shopping centers to check whether their parking fees were more than the rates set out in a 2004 gubenatorial decree.

“I suspect that the violation has been going on since 2008. I hope the operators will change their rates after being reprimanded,” he said.

Andyka said operators who kept applying overpriced fees would have to face court.

“We will pursue legal courses of action for those allegedly charging illegal rates. I will also tell the operators that this crime can be reported to the KPK [Corruption Corruption Eradication Commission],” he told The Jakarta Post.

He said the management of a mall, for example, should agree with the parking operator over the fees based on the regulation.

If the operator asks for a higher rate than the regulation, the building management should (subsidize) subsidize their visitors.

“But in fact, the added costs are passed on to the public,” he said.

Andyka said he agreed that parking rates should be increased as it would increase city revenue and help to ease congestion.

The increase, however, should only be around 20 percent, not double the current official tariff, he said.

He said when he visited a mall in North Jakarta and another mall in Cibubur several days ago, the parking fee for cars was Rp 4,000 (US40 cents) for the first hour and Rp 2,000 for each subsequent hour.

According to the regulation, a parking fee inside buildings and multi-story parking lots for cars and minibuses is Rp 2,000 for the first hour and Rp 1,000 for each following hour.

Tariffs for buses is Rp 2,000 for the first hour and Rp 2,000 for each following hour, while motorcycles are charged Rp 750.

Nena Kristina, the operator of the 24-hour line for complaints regarding parking affairs at the Parking Unit said she had received around 400 text messages and 100 calls since the line was opened last weekend.

“Most complaints are about overpriced parking in malls,” she said over the phone.

Head of the parking unit Benyamin Bukit said his office had sent letters to operators in 57 parking stations that reportedly breached the regulation.

“We only monitor rates once every three months. We hope the public will help us with our monitoring,” he told the Post by phone.    

He said there were dozens of operators who operated over 500 parking location in the city.