Private parking operator Parkonic has announced an expansion of its paid parking services in Dubai Silicon Oasis.
With this expansion, the company is now operating throughout the community’s designated street parking areas.
Parkonic has been operating in Silicon Oasis since early this year and the most recent expansion came into effect on Thursday, August 21.
According to the operator, there are two kinds of parking areas in the district: P107, which functions as a paid car park 24 hours a day, and P112, where parking is paid between 8am and 10pm and free between 10pm and 7.59am.
The amount you have to pay for parking depends on the time of day. In each zone, the charge is Dh4 per hour from the start of the paid period until 4pm. It then increases to Dh6 per hour between 4pm and 8pm. In P107, the rate goes back to Dh4 per hour between 8pm and midnight, while in P112 it is Dh4 per hour from 8pm until 1am.
Parking is free on Sundays and public holidays.
Motorists can find out the applicable parking hours by checking the zone code displayed on the nearest parking sign. Signs identify the areas as either P107 or P112.
Parkonic added that its app's integration with Salik gives motorists another method of payment when using the extended parking network.
Parkonic expansion
Parkonic has expanded its services to several areas in Dubai. Paid parking was introduced at Wafi Mall earlier this month, with the company saying the system provides three free hours each day, after which there is a charge of Dh15 for the period for the fourth hour, and Dh10 for each additional hour or part of an hour.
Before that, Discovery Gardens changed to paid on-street parking on January 15. Residents who park in on-street parking areas must have an active Parkonic parking tenancy; if they do not, they will be charged at the visitor rate.
Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi also features a ticketless, barrier-free Parkonic smart parking system using automatic number plate recognition. Rates are Dh20 for the first hour and Dh10 for each subsequent hour, with automatic deductions via Salik or payments via SMS or the app. Dine-in guests get three hours free, and gym users get up to six hours free upon validation.
More paid parking to come
Mohamed Al Ali, chief executive of another operator, Parkin, told The National earlier this week that Dubai drivers could expect to see an extension of paid parking as the city continued to evolve.
Parkin currently operates 268,300 paid parking spaces across Dubai, up more than a quarter from 211,500 a year ago as new areas have been brought under its management.
“Parking is reaching every single person here,” he said. “We can see continued urban expansion, changing mobility patterns, and the growing expectations for smarter and more seamless services.
“Parking is a service, as simple as that. This is what you are paying for, that service in an advanced city. As the city expands, our parking spaces will expand with it.”
