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Vendors return: City racks brains for better way to manage Kota Tua
As the food stalls at the city-run Lokbin Kota Intan location are rarely visited by customers, many street vendors have decided to return to Fatahillah Square in the afternoons.
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Street vendors run their businesses on Jl. Kunir, a few meters away from Fatahillah Square in Kota Tua, Taman Sari, West Jakarta on June 20, 2018. Street vendors who have been relocated to a city-run food court called Lokbin Kota Intan have returned to sell near the square as they rarely get customers in the food court. (kompas.com/Rima Wahyuningrum)
T
he city’s efforts to control street vendors at West Jakarta's main tourist attraction in the Kota Tua area seems to be going in circles.
An attempt to relocate them nearby to Lokbin Kota Intan, a permanent city-run sales location on Jl. Cengkeh, Taman Sari, bore no fruit as the vendors keep returning to Fatahillah Square, a large open space surrounded by historic buildings in Kota Tua, where they can easily find customers and vice versa.
Fatahillah Square, the most popular attraction within the old city, is visited by an average of more than 1,000 people a day. Their demand for culinary delicacies has lured street vendors closer to the place.
One vendor who had been relocated to Kota Intan, Fatimah, 56, said she had been selling food there during the day, but sometimes she opened a stall near the square in the evening as the location on Jl. Cengkeh was rarely visited by customers.
“Customers to the lokbin are mostly locals-only, not Kota Tua visitors. Who wants to come all the way here on foot?” she asked.
A meatball vendor with a stall less than 100 meters from the square, Gilang Putra, 29, expressed a similar opinion, saying he never went back to Jl. Cengkeh after he was relocated as he could hardly earn money there.
Hundreds of street vendors occupy the roadsides and sidewalks surrounding the square, commonly after 4 p.m., hence they contribute to traffic congestion.
