Penang Island Parking Attendants

I’ve always hated majority of the parking attendants in Penang Island. I think they are just a bunch of unworthy dishonest cheaters who is cheap enough to cheat a couple of ten cents from the people. How do they cheat you may ask? You pay RM0.30 for a half an hour parking. Before your half an hour is up, they give you another ticket indicating you have to pay them another RM0.30. Some would illegally collect money at places you don’t even have to pay in the first place. Some would be pissed at you for not paying (when clearly they just cheated your money) and start throwing shoes at your car. It is just so… horrible of them.

I think (and correct me if I’m wrong), Penang Island is the only state in the whole of Malaysia who has yet to implement the automatic parking payment system. Only a handful of places in the Penang Island has the whole non-dependent-upon-some-idiotic-human-parking-attendant-to-collect-your-parking-money system (be it the machine where you insert your coins, or the paper parking ticket). But even some of these machines are ridiculous enough that you even have to pay on weekends (I’m talking specifically about the Pulau Tikus area where you have to pay for parking through the machine 7 days a week, 9am – 9pm –  if you don’t pay, the MPPP or the police will come and give you a ticket).

Let’s talk about KL then. Very unlikely do you find parking attendants walking around KL, slinging a sling bag across their body, holding a green and pink colored parking receipt, collecting RM0.30 or RM0.40 from those who parked at the designated parking space by the street. They have machines installed, and the people are responsible for making their own payment. If they don’t, their cars get towed, locked or they get a ticket. I think it’s a fair system. And it’s most definitely better than what we have now in Penang.

Maybe I’m just being a big cheapskate. But it gets annoying after a while. I can’t help but wonder if the Penang Government notices this flaw… or maybe they don’t think it’s even a flaw to begin with.

Oh well, it’s yet another complaint by chiaoju.

p/s: btw, spending CNY in KL was pretty cool. read this — no jam!! Not even on the Federal Highway! I mean… it IS THE Federal Highway… NOT CONGESTED WITH CARS! haha…