The stress and headache of looking for a working parking machine in Petaling Jaya (PJ) will soon be over as the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) announced that they will implement a new alternative parking system starting from September 4. Or rather, it is an old parking system as they will be reverting to parking coupons.
Source: The Star
According to the Sun Daily, Mayor Datuk Mohd Azizi Mohd Zain said, “This system is implemented to manage the control of car parks in Petaling Jaya. It is also an alternative to the existing parking machines. This system will include all the on-street parking currently existing in PJ.”
Apparently, The Star has previously reported that MBPJ decided to reintroduce this system because it can be rolled out easily on a short-term basis. Many residents have complained before that the machines were always faulty and it was a hassle to walk around to look for an operating machine. If you’ve been there you would know the pain!
Source: CarSifu
Hence, it is common for many of them to just give up and write a note there stating, “Sorry, parking meter spoilt” in hopes that they wouldn’t get any summons from the officers. There are more than 700 parking machines around the city that serves about 21,000 parking bays but it is the norm for more than half of these machines to be faulty.
The coupons will be available in hourly, daily and monthly booklets. The hourly coupons will cost RM6 and has 10 coupons worth RM0.60 per hour, the daily coupon booklet has five coupons for RM25 where one coupon costs RM5, while the monthly pass is RM100 for the whole month.
Source: The Star
Azizi hopes that this would solve the parking woes experienced by motorists in PJ and said, “With this system, there is no more excuse of the parking machines not working. The booklets will be available easily at most retail shops.” So far, 16 agents have been appointed to distribute the booklets to nearby shops.
When the news was announced to the public, netizens had mixed reactions as some of them were relieved that they can finally solve their parking issues in PJ. However, as this system was an old one that was discontinued in 2001, some of them said that we are moving backwards.
Source: NST
They said, “This is not environmentally friendly at all! Wasting paper!”
Some netizens also recommended that MBPJ should develop a parking mobile app such as JomParking, as almost everyone has a smartphone these days. Plus, it’s convenient and good for the environment too!
What do you think of this old new parking system?
Also read: Here’s What You Should Know About SS15’s New Multi-Storey Parking Lot
