Several shoppers at Dubai Mall were delighted at being able to find parking easily, and close to the entrance on the first day that the shopping destination implemented a paid parking system.
Regular visitor Tasha Jackson said that she was extremely happy.
“I often have to come to this mall, related to my work, but I have not seen it this empty in the near past,” she said. “I parked right next to the entrance at the Cinema Parking. I am really happy because usually I have to spend at least 15 to 20 minutes just looking for parking, and sometimes I get a spot very far away. I only need to spend an hour or less whenever I come here. This new system will hopefully make it easy for me to whizz in and whizz out.”
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On Monday, July 1, Dubai Mall rolled out a new scheme, in partnership with Dubai’s road toll operator Salik, that will see the popular shopping destination offer four hours of free parking on weekdays and six hours on weekends.
Busy parking
Apart from the signs of Salik being put up at every parking entrance, there are no indications of the paid parking system. As earlier promised by the operators, it is a seamless, barrier-free system.
The paid parking is only applicable to the Fashion, Grand and Cinema parking. The Zabeel and Fountain View parking will remain free to the public. Both the free parking facilities were extremely busy very early in the morning. By midday, most levels showed either no parking or very limited numbers.
“A lot of staff who work in the mall have parked their vehicles in Zabeel and Fountain View parking,” said a parking attendant. “That is why the other parkings are relatively empty while these are extremely busy.”
Information boards indicating the prices of parking have been put up at various places across the mall, particularly outside elevators close to the parking facilities. It will cost shoppers Dh20 for a stay lasting up to 5 hours, Dh500 to stay for 12 to 24 hours and Dh1000 to stay more that 24 hours at the parking.
Only cars that have Salik tags can now access the paid parking facilities at the mall, according to the operators. However, it is not clear how these cars will be detected or stopped.
One person who has been adversely impacted due to the new parking rules is S.M., who works at Emaar Square, located adjacent to Dubai Mall.
“Parking at Emaar Square is very hard to get and too expensive,” she said. “I used to park at the Dubai Mall parking and then walk over to my office. Today I took the metro to work. I am not yet sure what I will do as metro is quite long and inconvenient for me. My colleagues and I are considering several other options.”