Person or business that owns vehicle obliged to have garage

The increasing number of motorized vehicles in Jakarta combined with a limited and expensive living space have resulted in carport issue across the city.

Jakarta has some 15 million vehicles, but a significant number of car owners do not have a garage or carport in their home despite it being a requirement from the Jakarta administration.

Kebon Jeruk resident in West Jakarta, Supono, parks his car in front of an empty house in his neighborhood, on a narrow road that fits two vehicles.

The 51-year-old, who works as an app-based ride-hailing driver, claims no one has complained to him about the situation. Moreover, the road leads to a cul-de-sac and rarely experiences traffic jams, even with numerous cars parked in front of houses.

“Residents are very aware of the matter,” he told The Jakarta Post, adding that his neighbors who would move their cars whenever the community held an event.

He recalls a time when Jakarta Transportation Agency officers relocated some cars parked on the curb in front of a child-friendly public space (RPTRA) situated at the end of the road.

“Locals talked it over. One of the [solutions] was to allocate an empty plot of land for parking,” he said, referring to a parking spot located only a few meters away that can hold up to 50 cars.

The agency’s attempt at the time was not without legal basis. Article 140 of the 2014 city bylaw on transportation stipulates that “a person or business entity who owns a motorized vehicle is obliged to have a garage”.

The same article also says that “individuals and business entities are prohibited from parking motorized vehicles on road space”.

The agency is allowed to lock the vehicle's tires with wheel clamps, remove the valve stem from the vehicle's tire or relocate the vehicle to a readily available parking facility, according to the bylaw.

The agency’s law enforcement section head, August Fabian, said his side had found some violations but could not recall the number of violators.

"The enforcement we did was mainly by relocating [vehicles] so as not to block other [road users],” he told the Post on Saturday.

“The treatment is a bit different because [such violations] usually occur in residential areas.”

Responding to the regulation, Supono expressed hope that the agency would enforce the law on the main thoroughfares or non-toll roads instead of the streets of residential complexes.

“Because the cause of gridlock is cars that are carelessly parked on the thoroughfares or non-toll roads,” he said.

Conversely, businesswoman Mirah in Matraman, East Jakarta, prefers to stay tight-lipped over her neighbors’ lack of parking etiquette.

Several families in her residential area park their cars by the side of the road, which fits only two vehicles, making the area badly crowded during peak hours.

She has chosen to remain silent, saying she was a mere newcomer in the neighborhood, having moved there only two years ago.

“I think it is useless to complain as it happened across Jakarta. That’s how people park,” she said.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan recently said he was thinking of reviewing prevailing regulations.

“If there [are many violators], we need to check what's wrong; the regulation or violators. We probably need to adjust the perspective […] So, we may review the regulation, not only the enforcement,” he told reporters at City Hall recently.

"What needs to be complemented is the regulation. If we don’t care about the [purchase] transaction but then we enforce the law of them not having a garage, it potentially creates a social problem.”

Jakarta Transportation Agency head Syafrin Liputo said his side would evaluate the bylaw. The enforcement, he said, required cooperation with other city institutions like the City Council, and district and subdistrict heads.

He added that the agency had been instructed to collect data on illegal parking on roads in five municipalities as a basis to resolve the prolonged problem, according to wartakota.tribunnews.com.

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