ON Jan 3, 2017, I took photos of seven cars that were clamped while parked in designated lots and another car that was towed from Fraser Business Park in Kuala Lumpur, all because the drivers did not pay for parking.
Each car had a notice of offence for “no payment of parking” stuck to a wiper blade and a supplementary notice to warn the driver that the car would be towed if no action was taken within four hours.
I called the first number, 03-4162 8672, but no one answered.
Later, I learnt Kuala Lumpur City Hall had outsourced its parking contract to Yayasan Wilayah Persekutuan, which privatised the enforcement of parking rules and wheel-clamping to contractor Vista Summerose.
This was discontinued after Mayor Datuk Nor Hisham Ahmad Dahlan suspended clamping indefinitely from November last year. There is a RM80 million suit from Vista Summerose for breach of contract, damages and impact on its reputation, plus interest.
Since then, irresponsible motorists have been having a field day, double or triple parking, obstructing traffic or waiting inside their vehicles, forcing drivers to pick up or drop off passengers far from the kerb.
The problem is out of control, but the authorities appear clueless in overcoming it.
When enforcement is not carried out regularly, motorists park where they like. If vehicles obstruct traffic, they should be towed and not remain clamped at the site. City Hall can hire tow trucks and pay for them with the charges collected from errant motorists.
City Hall enforcement officers use handheld gadgets to record the registration numbers of vehicles parked at designated lots and receive instant responses on whether parking fees are paid.
Some officers have a small printer fitted in their motorcycle’s front basket that prints out notices of parking offence.
They can do the same for illegally parked vehicles. This way, an enforcement officer can issue 50 to 100 notices a day and the fines will add to City Hall’s coffers.
City Hall can draft bulletproof contracts and appoint concessionaires to submit photos or videos of offences and it is up to enforcement officers to decide whether the evidence submitted warrants the issuance of a notice of parking offence.
Concessionaires must be paid based on the number of notices issued, and it is up to them to recruit and train camera crew and invest in equipment, without City Hall spending a single sen, unlike huge sums spent on Automated Enforcement System cameras.
These camera crew should not be allowed to negotiate with the public. They must be respectful without being rude.
The authorities should have made stage buses their eyes and ears by equipping them with dashcams directed not only at drivers but also passengers to deter pickpocketing or molestation.
Taxi drivers will have to choose between waiting at bus stops or receiving another notice of parking offence.
City Hall should work with the Road Transport Department to ensure that a vehicle’s road tax could only be renewed or ownership transferred until all fines have been settled.
Y.S. CHAN
Petaling Jaya, Selangor