The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While many other countries seem to have embraced technology to their advantage, Indonesia continues to lag behind.

This is evident in the fact few people use the electronic payment method when it is available, despite the fact it has been offered at various outlets in the city for the past few years.

Alvino Luberzki, 26, said he preferred to pay with cash at gas stations rather than using his electronic payment card.

"It's just too much of a hassle to recharge the card before purchasing fuel. I might as well just pay for the fuel directly with cash," he told The Jakarta Post.

Alvino said he used the card, also known as a smart card, only when extra fuel was offered as an incentive.

However, he said only certain gas stations had facilities to recharge the card, making it a time-consuming process.

Paying electronically can cut queuing time at various public offices and enables members of the public to avoid corruption.

While electronic payment facilities remain a relatively new concept in Jakarta, similar systems are already popular in other major Asian major cities, including Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong.

The governments of these countries have also designed pre-paid cards for using public transportation, such as the Octopus Smart Card in Hong Kong, which 90 percent of commuters use.

Many gas stations in Jakarta are yet to be installed with smart card facilities, while staff members at stations that accept the cards say the system is rarely used.

"Sometimes people buy fuel with the cards, but usually only five or 10 people a day at the most," said Dwi Lestari, an attendant at a fuel station on Jl. TB Simatupang in South Jakarta.

"Sometimes we don't get one smart card transaction in a day," she added.

In 2003 the city administration attempted to introduce a similar system for parking, which required motorists to purchase prepaid cards while parking attendants were equipped with hand-held computers.

It was never fully accepted, with motorists and parking attendants preferring cash transactions. Street parking in Jakarta is generally managed by unregulated parking attendants who charge between Rp 1,000 and Rp 2,000, most of which is never seen by the city administration.

Transportation expert Tamin Z. Ofyar from the civil engineering department at the Bandung Institute of Technology said electronic payment systems would be unavoidable for motorists and commuters in the future.

"That is where every payment system is heading. Give it some time and the public will get used to it," he said.

 

Tags: Electronic payment method, Jakarta Post