Dubai: With Saturday, July 30, marking the official holiday for the Hijri New Year, transport authorities in some Emirates have announced free parking and updated timings for their services. Here is all you need to know about using public parking during the public holiday.
Dubai
The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai announced the public parking would be free on Saturday, July 30. However, this does not apply to multi-storey car parks.
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi’s Integrated Transport Centre (ITC) announced that public parking will be free on Saturday, June 30. This includes the parking at the Musaffah M-18 truck parking lot. However, ITC reminded motorists to abide by residential parking regulations, and avoid parking in residential bays between 9pm and 8am every day.
With Abu Dhabi shifting the day for the weekly free parking to Sunday, this would mean that motorists will have to return to paying for public parking from Monday, August 1.
No Darb toll charge
Cars passing through Darb road tolls will also not be charged on Saturday, June 30.
ITC customer happiness centres
While ITC customer happiness centres will be closed on Saturday, the authority advised people to reach out to ITC through its website – itc.gov.ae, the ‘Darb’ and ‘Darbi’ apps, the customer support number 800 850 and the Abu Dhabi Taxi services number – 600 535353.
Bus services
According to ITC, the bus service will follow the official holidays schedule. The official holiday schedule for each bus route is listed out on the darbi.itc.gov.ae, which can be used by riders to know more about the changed timings.
Sharjah
Sharjah Municipality also announced free parking on the new Hijri year. The announcement mentioned the date for free parking as Muharram 1, which is expected to fall on Saturday, July 30.
The free parking is only applicable to the regular public parking zones and not the 7-day paid parking zones. When parking your car, you would need to check the parking sign posts around the area to confirm if you are in a 7-day parking zone, which is identified by the yellow and blue sign board.
