Two malls in Dubai have revealed their plan to introduce charges for people that leave their vehicles in the car parks for more than three hours. The parking management system that is to be introduced at the Mall of the Emirates and Deira City Centre is an attempt to put off drivers who may want to leave their cars in the mall car parks then catch the Metro to another destination. On weekdays the first three hours are free, with four at weekends. On weekdays each extra hour will be charged at Dh20 while at weekends the additional first and second hours will be charged at Dh40 and Dh60 respectively. An additional hour of free parking is available for those watching films at the malls' cinemas. The new system will have a trial run from Aug 9 with the introduction of entry and exit barriers, ticket collection points and instructions. This will be free with charging beginning the day after the Dubai Metro begins its service on Sept 9. Majid Al Futtaim Group, which owns the two malls, said courtesy parking crews would be put into place to help customers to adapt to the new system. Fareed Abdelrahman, the vice president, divisional asset management for Majid Al Futtaim Properties, said in a release: "It was very important for us to strike a balance between giving our customers easy access to free parking while ensuring our car parks at Mall of the Emirates and Deira City Centre do not become park and ride stops for Metro users." Other malls with Metro access have, as yet, not given any indication that they plan to introduce paid-parking.
pchayney@thenational.ae
