Dubai: Motorists won’t have to drive around looking for parking in two Dubai areas as the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has launched a parking reservation system on its smartphone app.
The RTA unveiled the service as part of its smart initiatives on the opening day of 38th Gitex Technology Week on Sunday.
Helping people save time and fuel, the new service available only on android smart phones for now, will enable motorists to reserve a parking slot by following a few simple steps on RTA Dubai app.
According to a senior RTA official, the service is set to be on IOS in the next 10 days.
Currenlty available in Dubai Marina and Dubai Media City, with six reserved slots in each locality, more areas will have the facility in the next phase.
“Just log on to the RTA Dubai app and select parking services, where you will see a new tab for parking reservation, clicking on it will take you to an interactive map which will show you the available parking slots in these two areas. You can then choose the slot and pay for the service before driving to the area to find a parking space waiting for you,” said Osama Al Safi, Director of Parking at RTA’s Traffic and Roads Agency.
The service is available at a fee of Dh10 per hour, with every additional hour costing Dh10 each.
He added that the app users will have to make sure they have an account with RTA with sufficient balance to pay for the service. The account could be topped up using a credit or debit card.
“Users of the app know that the vehicle details are already stored in the app, which will be used to book a slot in the zone required. Misuse of the slots or parking at the spaces reserved for this service without paying will attract a fine of Dh1,000,” said Al Safi.
The service is part of slew of smart parking services launched recently including a virtual parking ticket system, which saves motorists the hassle of walking back to their cars to display the paper tickets. The system, which is currently live in a few areas, is on display at the RTA’s Gitex stand.
