UAE | Traffic and Transport

Valet parking services spell trouble in residential areas

While valet parking services offered by hospitals and hotels offer added value to their customers, the service often spells trouble for residents living in the vicinity.

  • By Rayeesa Absal, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 00:38 March 20, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Traffic chaos opposite Al Noor Hospital (behind Khalifa Street) in Abu Dhabi.
  • Image Credit: Ravindranath/Gulf News

Abu Dhabi: While valet parking services offered by hospitals and hotels offer added value to their customers, the service often spells trouble for residents living in the vicinity.

Karthik Sundaram, an engineer, says that the valet parking service offered by a hospital in his neighbourhood delays him by several minutes every day. "I live behind the Al Noor hospital on Khalifa Street [Third Street], on a building opposite the entrance of the hospital. There is traffic chaos in this area, primarily because of the valet parking facility provided by the hospital."

"Cars are abandoned by customers on the left, right and centre of the road after switching on the hazard lights," said Sundaram. The valet parking service personnel drives the cars down to a nearby underground parking until the visitors to the hospital return. "The problem is that people leave their cars on the roads and by the time the drivers move these cars, a long queue of cars would have formed along the stretch, as the road is very narrow."

Traffic flow

"This totally affects the traffic flow," he said, urging concerned persons to look into the problem and set up a proper system for drop off and pick up of cars.

Another resident of the same area, Rasheed A., said: "During peak hours, the traffic gets blocked everyday because of the valet parking service offered by the hospital. It is not correct to inconvenience all road users to provide a better service to their customers."

In response to the issue, an official at Al Noor hospital said, "It is not just the hospital which is creating the traffic problem in the area. There are several banks and other institutions in the locality, which means many people use these facilities.

"Unless it is an emergency case, our officials do not take time to move the cars. Also now the hospital has introduced a new system where cars are ... in a queue system to facilitate the pick up and drop off."

He added that parking in the wrong area causes congestion more than the valet parking system itself. "Despite the police issuing fines to those who park in non-designated spaces, people continue to do this which is worsening the traffic situation."

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