Dubai motorists penalised for parking in bus bays

Dubai: A lack of lines marking out bus lanes has led to many motorists being fined.

Drivers say that the marking is unclear, and there are no signs specifying "no parking". Lack of space for buses to pull in is also causing a hazard for motorists who are forced to queue behind the stationary vehicles.

Some bus stops do not have enough allocated space to pull in fully.

Motorist D.F. was fined for parking in an unmarked bus bay last month.

He said: "There's nothing that says no parking and they look like parking spaces. I was going to park there this morning, but I decided to move. I was slapped with a Dh200 fine."

One bus stop in the Jumeirah area is surrounded by a marked parking lane, which continues around all the adjacent side roads.

Motorist N.L. said: "There's no marking on the ground, so I parked there and loads of people park there every day. Since I got a ticket I've noticed that more people are parking there. Before, it didn't seem like many cars parked there, but now the buses can't pull in - it has to stop in the road. It's just not obvious where the bus stop starts or ends."

'Parking in prohibited places' is a Dh200 fine and two black points, while 'parking a vehicle on the pavement' is a Dh200 fine and three black points.

Campaign planned

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is to crack down on truck/vehicle parking violations. It will be working with the General Department of Traffic, providing images of trucks/vehicles parked on pavements or on hard shoulders in order to issue traffic offence tickets.

Trucks violating traffic laws will be towed off roads to prevent accidents with other vehicles.

Up to 450 more speeding radars may also be installed in hazardous locations. These may be Emirates Road, Al Wasl Road, Ras Al Khor area and the Dubai-Al Ain Road - to be decided by the RTA and Dubai Traffic Police.