Dubai: Parking in Meena Bazaar and other pockets of Bur Dubai has become a nightmare despite the mushrooming of several private parking lots, residents have complained.
The scramble worsens during evenings and on weekends when both shoppers and residents living in the neighbourhood jostle for parking space.
Anisha Shaikh, a Pakistani housewife looking for parking at a private car park opposite Sun City in Meena Bazaar, said: “It’s impossible to get parking in the RTA parking slots in this area. There are just not enough. Nowadays, finding parking in the private car parks has also become difficult.”
Pratheek, an Indian shopper, said: “I have stopped looking for parking anymore. We can never shop as a full family when we come to Meena Bazaar. I drop off my wife and children and keep driving round in circles till they finish their work. There’s no other way.”
Residents said they could bank on private parking lots earlier because not many people were willing to cough up the hourly charges of Dh10. “It can come up to quite a bit because browsing around the market takes at least a couple of hours. But even when I am willing to spend Dh20 or Dh30 on parking, I can’t get a place here nowadays,” said Seema Malik, an aggrieved shopper.
An usher at the Al Souk car park said around 60-65 cars can be accommodated at any given time. A few metres away at the Al Wasl private car park, 38 slots were available.
But they’re invariably full in the evenings, because many of them are occupied by residents from the neighbourhood.
One car park usher in the area confirmed that at least 50 cars had booked slots for a monthly rent of Dh400 each. “Where do we go? Our flats don’t offer parking, neither do the roads around them. We have no option but to take these private parking spaces, though they don’t come cheap,” said a resident.
Others don’t give up until they find space in the RTA parking lot. A couple waiting for a car to pull out of the RTA car park opposite Puranmal restaurant said: “This is a ritual every evening. We take turns to wait in the car till someone pulls out. Sometimes it can take up to three hours before we find parking.”
The situation along Bank Street and Computer Street is no different. A regular visitor to Al Ain Centre said he factors the Dh10 he has to pay the private car park behind the centre each time he pays a visit. “It is too expensive but there’s no other option.”
