Many non-Penang drivers commented that driving in Penang was a nightmare. However, Penangites encounter a worse nightmare on a daily basis - that is parking!
There are several major problems related to parking in Penang. Firstly, the city faced problem with the lack of parking space. Penang's vehicle registration is the third fastest in Malaysia, only slower than Klang Valley and Johor. However, the availability of parking space does not increase in correlation to the increase in vehicles. This posed extra difficulties in finding parking around the city, especially in the city centre.
Adding to that, Penangites also encountered ruthless parking attendants, both legal and illegal. Illegal parking attendants usually operate in the evening and collect parking fees in areas which are suppose to be free. The attitude of these illegal attendants were usually rude and threatening.
Besides that, some legal parking attendants posed a different woes to the driving community. Overcharged, illegal increasing of parking fees were among the common problems faced by drivers. There were also cases where drivers were forced to pay a high flat rate instead of the hourly rate.
In order to solve the problems due to human attitude, Penang Municipal Council has installed parking meters. However, as reported by The Star (4 January 2007, page N15), the council has 3000 parking meters of two different models. One of the models has only two maintenance clerks and another model has no spare part. This has contributed to the high number of faulty meters in Georgetown. If drivers think that they are lucky to receive free parking due to the faulty meter, then don't be surprise to receive traffic tickets (saman) for parking in slots with faulty meters.
The parking problem in Penang seems to be getting from bad to worse. The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) has raised the matter with the municipal council nine years ago but Penangites still faced the same old problem when it comes to parking. Perhaps it is time for the council to adopt easier method in collecting the parking fees. There were several less problematic methods such as:
1) Paying machine along the road, where drivers will pay the machine and a ticket will be issued. The driver will then need to left the ticket on the car dashboard. The advantage is there only need to have one or two machine per street and unlike the parking meter allocated to every parking slot. This method has been used by the Petaling Jaya City Hall. 
2) Coupons. Drivers will have to buy coupons from various outlet and displayed along the dashboard of the car. The method has been implemented in Seberang Perai, Johor and Singapore.Both of the above two methods are more cost-effective and user-friendly. It seems to be more a win-win solution for both the municipal council with its higher revenue and to Penangites for a hassle-free parking facility.
It was interesting to note the study by American Public Transportation Association that swapping a second car with public transport could save up to US$6,200 per year. This certainly gives encouragement and reason for government to further improve the public transportation system.
From my family's experience in Penang, my dad could travel to work within 30 minutes with public bus. This was before the public bus system in Penang was revamp and the cost is only RM1 per trip. When the government increased the fuel price and promised to improve the public transportation system, the entire bus system in Penang was revamped.
If US$6,200 could be saved by using public transportation, similar argument could not explain the situation in Malaysia. Although the price of public transportation does not increase significantly, the other opportunity costs associated with travelling in public transport has certainly increase. The waiting time has increased; the efficiency of public transportation, the comfort or the convenience has certainly decreased tremendously. All these are economic costs to the consumer of public transportation.
Many non-Penang drivers commented that driving in Penang was a nightmare. However, Penangites encounter a worse nightmare on a daily basis - that is parking!
In order to solve the problems due to human attitude, Penang Municipal Council has installed parking meters. However, as reported by The Star (4 January 2007, page N15), the council has 3000 parking meters of two different models. One of the models has only two maintenance clerks and another model has no spare part. This has contributed to the high number of faulty meters in Georgetown. If drivers think that they are lucky to receive free parking due to the faulty meter, then don't be surprise to receive traffic tickets (saman) for parking in slots with faulty meters.
