Everyone thinks that parking in Jakarta is a necessity. But is it really? Parking or the availability of spaces encourages people to bring their own vehicles, which contributes to congestion. Parking is actually an often overlooked factor that contributes to the city's housing crisis and lack of green space. What's more, without realizing it, everyone including those who don't own a vehicle is subsidizing parking through government regulations. Instead of easing the burden on the city, parking makes the city's development harder for its residents.
What exactly is the problem with parking? Isn't more parking better?
Building owners are bound by parking regulations when developing malls, office buildings or apartments. The Technical Guidelines for the Implementation of Parking Facilities regulation is actually very outdated, having been drafted in 1996. It requires a minimum quota of parking spaces in each building. The requirement is determined by the ratio of one parking space and a certain square meter area depending on the type of development. Another regulation (Regional Regulation No. 5/2012) caps the rate paid by customers at IDR 5,000 per hour. This makes parking rates unusually low.
The low revenue of parking lots is disproportionate to the cost of construction and the space taken up, especially underground parking. A car requires an average of 22 to 27 square meters to account for driveways, ramps, ventilation and more. Whereas parking lots outside the building, while cheaper to build, take up the main development area. This area could be used for something more useful. Not to mention the maintenance costs. It is clear that providing parking makes the owner or building lose money.
In fact, more parking spaces backfire on efforts to address congestion in Jakarta. This is because parking is one of the manifestations of a city policy designed for motor vehicles, not for its people or public transportation. So, instead of allocating funds to provide convenient public transport, the government would rather charge building owners to let people drive and subsidize parking users with cheap rates.
Who subsidizes the financial loss of parking provision?
The construction and maintenance costs of parking lots, which are first borne by building owners, are passed on to their tenants. These costs are then passed on to the tenant's end customers.
In the retail industry, this offset scheme is included in the price of goods, food, and beverages. That means that even those who do not drive are subsidizing the cost of parking. So, all of society without exception bears the burden of parking.
Isn't the parking lot empty at night?
Parking itself is already problematic in this era of public transportation. In Jakarta, it is even worse due to the wasteful parking system. Parking lots in office buildings and malls will be empty from evening to morning. On weekends, parking lots in office buildings are definitely empty. Along Sudirman-Thamrin alone, there are 38,000 parking spaces (ITDP). Meanwhile, home garages are empty during the day.
This is a clear waste of space when it is difficult for Jakarta residents to find spacious and decent housing. This excessive parking capacity can be utilized for affordable housing and green open spaces. While at home, the garage can be utilized for other purposes for the family.
The amount of land used for cars has contributed to the scarcity of land and space in Jakarta, making it very expensive.
How does parking affect our social life?
Apart from the time-consuming activity of searching for parking and queuing to get out of buildings, parking lots deprive cities of gathering areas. Parking lots are not meant for human activity, especially at night. Parking outside buildings (in front of shophouses or on the street) not only ruins the beauty of the city, but also sacrifices pedestrian space and comfort. Sidewalks that often face parking lots, rather than attractive buildings and storefronts, make walking in Jakarta an unappealing experience. The use of private vehicles also closes off the possibility of interaction between residents. It would be a different story if Jakarta had more green open spaces, public spaces and comfortable and attractive sidewalks.
What solutions are good for the short and long term?
In the short term, we should focus on areas already served by reliable mass transportation such as MRT and LRT.
- Limit the supply of parking spaces. Instead of requiring a minimum parking quota, local governments should update their regulations and change it to a maximum parking supply quota.
- Remove the Rp 5,000 parking fee limit and let the market price work. This will encourage people to take public transportation.
- Incentivize the conversion of parking spaces designated for community activities.
- Create pedestrian-friendly areas with areas without parking lots.
- Introduce the park-and-ride concept in transit pockets on the outskirts of the city so that people do not need to bring private vehicles when going to the city center.
In the long term, we need to increase spatial density. To do this, we must adopt a new set of pedestrian-focused policies. This way, owning a private vehicle is no longer a necessity and the need for parking will be reduced. The government should also encourage mixed-use development so that even if parking is needed, it can be used effectively. When an area is home to a variety of activities, the provision of shared parking becomes possible and makes sense. This is because the spaces will be occupied by different users at different times on weekdays and weekends. In this way, building owners can share the cost of construction and maintenance and combine their parking quotas into one building. Thus, parking is back to its original function, which is to serve Jakarta.
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