Editorial
If Jakarta wants to break free from its crippling gridlocks, choking air and other perennial issues, it must end the era of cheap parking and force drivers to pay the true cost of the road.
The setting sun hangs in thick haze above downtown Jakarta on July 20, 2026, as viewed from a shopping mall parking lot in East Jakarta. (JP/Iqro Rinaldi)
Jakarta must make private vehicles less appealing for a whole host of reasons, including smoother travel and better air quality, and raising parking fees is a critical place to start.The provincial administration’s plan to hike hourly rates by up to twelvefold has drawn predictable pushback from car-dependent commuters. Yet with vehicle volumes swelling, buoyed by electric cars exempt from the odd-even traffic policy, charging drivers significantly more to park is an indispensable step toward curbing car dependency.
The city administration and the Jakarta Legislative Council (DPRD) are currently revising Gubernatorial Regulation No. 31/2017 on parking fees. Under the current decree, the hourly rates are just Rp 2,000 (11 US cents) for motorcycles, Rp 5,000 for passenger cars and Rp 7,000 for buses and trucks; among the cheapest in the world.
