DUBAI — Two leading shopping centres in Dubai will today commence a free trial period of their parking management system to ensure that the customers understand the new plan before it is implemented in a month to concur with the launch of Dubai Metro, a senior representative of the Majid Al Futtaim Group said on Saturday.
Visitors to Mall of the Emirates and Deira City Centre will be obliged to take part in the free trial of the parking system from today until its launch on September 10.
Customers will need to collect a ticket at one of the parking entry stations. Once their visit to the mall is over, the ticket will be assessed at one of the Automatic Pay Machines and finally swiped at the exit barrier. Courtesy parking crews will be stationed at both the malls to help customers adapt to the new system. Applicable fees will only be charged from September 10, a day after the Dubai Metro begins its service.
While inspecting the progress in work on the stations, Mattar Al Tayer, chairman of the board and executive director of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), said the construction was proceeding at a satisfactory rate and called upon workers to keep up their efforts.
“Al Tayer inspected the final touches carried out by the project contractor in several Dubai Metro stations, and was satisfied with the work progress in finishing works of the floors, functionality of escalators and lifts, and interior lighting,” the RTA statement said.
“He called upon the contracting companies to redouble their efforts to deliver the project on schedule.”
The Red Line of the driverless public transport system will start rolling on September 9.
Al Tayer also toured Al Rashidiya, City Centre, Union Square, Financial Centre, Mall of the Emirates and Jumeirah Lakes Metro Stations.
He viewed the results of the technical trial run of the Metro covering communication systems, auto operation systems, power supplies, air-conditioning, on-board electronics, signalling and lighting systems, and integration and coordination between various sub-systems and components. He said the pedestrian footbridges at each of the stations will revolutionise accessibility to transport for pedestrians, in the city and will also support the broader objective of promoting reduced dependence on private car usage.
Al Tayer checked the arrangements made for allocating spaces as bus stops and taxi ranks at each station in addition to information signages and other related matters.
Nineteen pedestrian bridges on Shaikh Zayed Road will become operational on September 9.
The parking management system was announced last month to ensure that the malls’ customers who use private transport have adequate parking places once the Dubai Metro begins functioning. The move is designed to discourage park-and-ride Metro users who may use the malls’ parking facilities as the Mall of the Emirates and Deira City Centre Metro Stations are conveniently located.
Starting September 10, visitors to the Mall of the Emirates and Deira City Centre will be provided with three hours free parking on weekdays and four hours on weekends (Friday and Saturday).
For people wanting to watch a movie, an extra free hour will be provided on both weekdays and weekends. Beyond the free parking hours, a charge of Dh20 will be charged for every additional hour for the next three hours. Parking will be free for four hours during weekends. Beyond these four hours, Dh40 and Dh60 will be charged for the first and second extra hours, respectively.
The system is based on industry research showing that an average of 70 per cent of shoppers spend three hours or less in the malls during the week.
