Dh800 for a Mawaqif permit, but no car park

Cabbies accused of hogging residents’ parking spots in city residential areas.

ABU DHABI // Driving around the streets near his Madinat Zayed-area building in search of parking is a nightly routine for John Savio.

Despite buying an annual resident parking permit from Mawaqif for Dh800, he is often forced to park some distance from his home.

He attributes the inconvenience to taxi drivers on a break taking up resident permit parking spots near restaurants.

“Between 8pm and 10pm you have a row of cars parked right outside the Al Shaari restaurant,” said Mr Savio, who has lived in the area since March.

“I’ve gone to this Bangladeshi restaurant a couple of times to tell them about the parking rules but they said, ‘do what you can’ and refuse to leave the spot.”

Under Mawaqif rules, permit holders can use residents-only parking area between 9pm and 8am. Anyone parking in the area illegally could face a Dh500 fine.

“There was a time I called Mawaqif to complain against the taxi drivers but they said this is not something which they can handle,” Mr Savio said.

“The customer service staff said they’ll try to send somebody here, but if it was an issue of taxi drivers refusing to leave the parking spots I was asked to call the cops.”

Taxi drivers, he said, have devised a method to help each other for a spot near the restaurant.

“Five to six spots are being occupied by taxis at night,” said Mr Savio.

“When I’m indicating to get inside, the taxi driver who’s in the spot refuses to leave. Then another taxi comes and takes the spot. These drivers just wait for another taxi to come in and help each other out.”

Praveen Thomas, 35, who has lived in the area for seven years, said it was an all-too common occurrence in the evening.

“These drivers notify the others of a free parking spot,” said the IT engineer.

“They reserve the spot and another guy would come to take the spot.”

Mr Thomas, who often works in his company’s Dubai office and arrives home between 8.30pm and 9pm, normally parks behind the main post office and walks home.

“We have to park somewhere and walk a long distance to reach our homes. I don’t think that is fair,” he said.

“What’s good about Mawaqif is that our permit allows us to park anywhere in our area any time if a spot is available.”

Kahinur Khan Anowar, a driver for National Taxi, said he and his colleagues normally gave way to owners of private vehicles.

“No one has complained against us,” said the 35-year-old. “We only park for 15 to 20 minutes and leave after our break.”

Babul Sarker, 45, an Arabia Taxi driver for seven years, said most drivers leave their vehicles parked in front of the restaurant without parking tickets. “But we don’t stay here for a long time,” he said.

“When we need tea, we park here for 10 to 15 minutes.”

Mahmud Rahman, 40, a Tawasul driver, hoped residents would be more considerate to taxi drivers who spend most of their time on the road.

“We all need to take a break,” he said.

“Many of us live as far as Baniyas and Mussaffah and drive for long distances.”

Officials from TransAD and Mawaqif were not immediately available for comment.