Defense Ministry's Bus Ticketed due to Illegal Parking

East Jakarta Transportation Sub-Department held a raid against illegal parking in Jatinegara area, Monday (9/8). By involving 70 joint personnel, as many as 5 cars and 30 motorcycles were successfully ticketed. Even, one of 5 cars is a bus belongs to the Defense Ministry, which parked on the roadside. 

The area in front of Jatinegara Station and East Jakarta Resort Police Headquarter is as the artery of traffic in East Jakarta. If illegal parking is ignored, it will disturbing and triggering traffic congestion

When officers did sweeping on Jalan Raya Bekasi Timur, precisely in front of Jatinegara Station, the Defense Ministry's bus 7591-02 seemed to be parked on the roadside. When being towed, the bus driver, Agus Yulianto (40) immediately went to the officers.

Agus pleaded guilty to park the bus haphazardly. But he argues only stopped briefly to look for bus spare-parts in Rawabening Market area. This civil servant class II/C also claimed had to park on the roadside due to unavailable of parking lot.

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Yet he insisted refuses to be towed to the Pulogebang Bus Terminal, East Jakarta, and finally the officer only gave him speeding ticket with a maximum fine of Rp 500,000. "I don't know the area is prohibited for parking. I just want to look for spare parts, and only parking briefly due to unavailable parking lot here," told Agus, Monday (9/8).

According to Benhard Hutajulu, Head of East Jakarta Transportation Sub-Department, the raid is done simultaneously in five municipalities. The target is a vehicle that is parked illegally on the roadside and use Transjakarta bus lanes. It is centered on Jalan Raya Bekasi Timur and Jalan Matraman Raya, because of the area is prone to illegal parking.

"The area in front of Jatinegara Station and East Jakarta Resort Police Headquarter is as the artery of traffic in East Jakarta. If illegal parking is ignored, it will disturbing and triggering traffic congestion," he explained.

He explained those ticketed vehicles will be towed to Terminal Pulogebang. Besides ticketing, the owner must also pay fine of Rp 500,000 per day, as long as the car is still grounded. They will be given a virtual account number to pay it via DKI Bank's ATM, and its receipt must be verified by DKI Bank. Afterwards, it would be brought to Pulogebang Terminal as evidence to redeem vehicle. Such sanction is in accordance with Regulation No. 3/2012 on Retribution.

He added that in the raid, officers managed to secure 5 cars where 3 of them towed to Pulogebang Terminal, while the rest ticketed, as well as 30 motorcycles.