KCPS Parking Woes: Runners Vs Lucky Draws = Who Win?

Exhibit 1: This letter made me LOWLED

My English Sucks and my blog's a BORE. You've been warned!

Hmmh..
Oh! Golly! Look at that!

All of us working at the area (Please see pic above) will have to be lucky to have a parking bay. It is via ladies and gents, the layman's term of Lucky Draw aka Balloting System. How HOH is this?

During the last miserable months (since I was here 8 months ago), we have to bribe pay my office tealady extra (Monthly pass only costs RM42 plus Her No-Guarantee-You-Get-The-Monthly-Pass), 13. Total RM55) money just for that lousy parking bays. It was still considered okay for me and my colleagues rather than using the lame old school parking coupon (prick punch the button holes) every half hour or displaying all 16 coupons ridiculously onto your car dashboard! (Wow! We can see your car from afar...cos your dashboard is the most colourful we'd seen!)

Exhibit 2: Colourful and fashionable for your car dashboards

We (on behalf of my other colleagues) always opted for the monthly pass since it was most convenient to employees who (unfortunately) have to park here. This pass however has its limit (well it's only business logic isn't it?). Out of 400 parking bays around the area, 257 bays are sold as monthly passes. That's 64% boys and girls!

I remembered how we met the municipal people to plead for our parking spaces. Then, was shooed ushered to go to KCPS (the operator) but still in VAIN! My boss even panickly (when he learnt that he didn't get the pass that he wanted) asked me to send him to see KCPS Boss to plead buying these spaces (at least for 5 of us) at a higher rate. We even negotiated to buy these bays for the whole year! But well, I guess they're not as business minded kinda people, are they? (or issit?)

At least we've thrown the idea to mark up the rate per monthly pass/monthly basis of RM60- RM80 and paid them in advance for the triannual/ biannual/ if not for the whole year. So come children, lets do the maths:

Minimum for KCPS(RM60 x 12 = RM720 per space/ year) x 200 spaces (let's say 50% basis out of 400 spaces) = a whopping RM144,000, hokkay!

Less the hard to be seen maintenance work (what maintenance work anyho?), selling parking bays are deemed a lucrative biz.

So please tell us which part of this proposal will make KCPS/MBKS lose more money? Hmmm?

To add salt to the wound, my opportunist tealady for her (in)famous "no-guarantee-monthly-pass" service bought hers first then her BFFs (Read: Best Friends Forever) later, THEN us (the insignificant people for her, eventhough we PAID her in full). How transparent she was, huh? That resulted in our Pay Higher than (let's say) Central Park's Monthly Pass, where we can just buy them by walk-in at KCPS counter; anytime (no need all those 11pm queing/fighting for life). She thought that she was doing all of us a favour without consulting us first. Guess what? I personally think she just need the excess money (RM13 x 12) for herself by using a lame excuse "My son had to risk his innocent life to que and wait for the counter from 11pm to 5am the next day". Like, DUH! We paid you RM55 for the 2 1/2 mile Rock Road Monthly Pass lah! Not for Central Park! Rasa nak tembak je minah ni masa tu...(masa tu ok!) Penipu betol!

What a runner does just to get that lousy monthly pass (and the excess money)?

1. Collect money like gangster/ah long
If we're her/his best friends, we can opt to pay anytime we want even though the usual pay up time was a week before 23rd every month! Monthly pass only costs RM42, but she/he demanded an increase from RM8 to RM13 or more!). In this case, my runner tealady even said out loud how she felt as if other runners are threatening her son's/ her son's friends'/ her husband's/her husband's friend's and her life.

2. Once all the money are collected with respective motorists' plate numbers, the runner will queue around 11 pm on 22nd every month. Even heard that the more gangster kiasu the runners were, the earlier they queued (even as early as 5pm, no shite!). Maybe my opportunist tealady runner was not so kiasu/ gangster enough(hoh!)

3. The runner who queued first, got the first counter number. One runner was only allowed with 5 passes. Since there were 275 passes, only the first 55 runners were considered "Lucky". The rest of the runners were mere failures and not as tough/ fit as the other gangsters runners

4. While waiting for all 55 counter numbers (nombor giliran)/ the KCPS counters to open as early as 5am on 23rd, these runners have the joy to jolly, to drink happily (with our extra RM13 extra money) til they puke purple (READ: Drunk, Mabuk etc) and to gamble. Later with the mix of all those sins, they will fight with each other to show who are macho-er and tougher than the other gangsters runners. Imagine, my opportunist tealady cum runner mentioned she was using her boy and her boy's friends to queue for this 22nd of the month routine! So irresponsible of her!

5. I suspected that she too waited in that frightening moment (I'm good in detecting liars, heh. Used to be one too last time (aku dah tobat) astaghfirullah!). Why? I observed that she was on leave every 23rd of the month. I don't think she has the heart to sacrifice her only son's neck! Anyho, this monthly passes proved to be a lucrative biz for here meagre tealady salary.

And why all the hassle and boohoorah about this monthly pass at Jalan Rock?
Because children, the lame old school parking coupon's system is like this:

First 30 mins = 20sen
Second 30 mins = 50sen
Third and more 30 mins later = 80sen

As I'm always on the go, how do you justify the rates? Its a plus point if you want to park there for just half an hour. Unlike most parking operators in Semenanjung where they use hourly system (which is more practical), Kuching parking operator is squeezing blood & gus from us.

Let's say I'm too lazy to go up and down, in and out the building just to change/ top up the coupon (and also being too generous/ rich/ kind to give the operator extra money)

Normal working hour is from 8am - 5pm:

First 1 hour = 70sen
The next 4 hours = 80sen x 8 = RM6
After lunchies, First 1 Hour= 70sen
The next 2 hours = 80sen x 4 = RM3
TOTAL daily (if you just park you car there) = RM10!!!

Monthly basis (without you taking leave/ or on MC, avoid working on Saturdays
RM10 x 20 working days = RM200 for farking (oops salah eja) parking alone!

Failure to top up/ change your half hourly parking coupon will result in getting
Pink Parking Compound = 55sen for every half hour.

If you fail to top up 2 hours then you'll get FOUR (4) pink love letters = 2.20 which you have to pay within THREE days. Failure to pay the summons in THREE days, then you'll be given another sweeter love letter for RM10.55 for each pink summon that you have.

Exhibit 3: Love letters aka parking compounds (this is normal to all of us here). You're considered cool if you get those!

White parking compound = You'll get this when you fail to display any coupon. But wait! Don't be a smart arse. Don't ever think that you can save some moolah when you thought you'll be issued with ONE white compound per day! Yes you heard me. They'll issue you TWO at least for the non-display. One summon = RM5. Go figure. Hahaha.

But, if you're so rajin to change your half hourly coupon that only costs 20 sen (as if you don't have anything to do except being reminded robotically to change your stupid old school coupon)

20sen x 2 x 8hours = RM3 (daily)
See how ridiculous this system is?

The result of today's Parking Lucky Draw (macam 4D Result plak) to all my colleagues here was not so joyful. We have to resort to

a) Use motorbikes instead (they are all the time FOC, except if you go thru the only Kuching tolled bridge)
b) Park at other FOC parking spaces (which needed to be parked illegally/ cross the dangerous opposite road)
c) Risk being summoned/ compounded if we still wanna park using the lame parking coupon (as we're not as generous to give KCPS RM10 daily) and topping up the coupons required dedicated time.

And don't tell us to car pool since we're not living in KL. Kuching is prolly not even half as congested. Further, every one of them Kuchingites will leave during lunch to pick up their school going children. So what gives?

I sincerely hope KCPS/ MBKS could accommodate to our needs here. At least by using hourly rates/ Selangor styled parking coupon machines/ KL styled gated parking areas (early bird RM7 per entry). At least I tried to vent my frustration in here. We don't mind about the logical parking rate that you want to hike (maybe this is your acid test?)just eliminate the hassles and tussles lah! And we're going towards hi-tech now baby! So why the old skool coupon which compound rates/ parking rates are skyrocketing ludicrously high (English yg teruk)?

There are no winners here!
(Except the powers that be..whoever they are (mcm Voldemort))