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A new 10 Dhs prime parking space introduced at Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai. Image Credit: Clint Egbert/Gulf News

Dubai: The trial phase of the paid parking system at the Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT) was activated on Monday, December 4.

A Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) spokesperson told Gulf News that the authority is working on creating awareness among JLT community members regarding the parking system and payment modes and no fines will be issued immediately.

“The new parking system is in the awareness phase and no fines will be issued until we make sure all motorists know how the system is being operated in the JLT area,” said a spokesperson in a statement issued by RTA.

No meters?

The spokessperson added that since JLT is considered a smart locality, only smart payment methods are applied for parking, which include mParking service, SMS, and RTA official SMART apps ‘RTA DUBAI’ and ‘DUBAI DRIVE’.

He said motorists must mention the exact code for the parking location in the SMS and the SMS format should be: plate code along with plate number <space> area code <space> duration.

“For the convenience of motorists we encourage the use of mobile apps to pay the required fees since the smart apps help users to compile the SMS or pay by parking account,” said the spokesperson.

Glitches

In response to the issues motorists in JLT have experienced making payments via the SMS and RTA mobile app, an RTA spokesperson said that the payment system is currently being updated and we request commuters to contact the RTA on 8009090 in case they do face any issues whilst making payments.

Dh10 per hour?

Parking fee for a few parking spots in the area costs Dh10 per hour, and here is what RTA says about it: Such areas have been identified by DMCC as prime areas due to their location and convenience of parking. Moreover, the high tariff for prime parking will increase the turnover for these parking and will increase their availability.

RTA and DMCC have introduced three parking codes in JLT I, J and K, code I represents ‘prime parking’ with three hours of maximum stay for Dh10 per hour, code J is for parking lots, allowing a short stay with three hours maximum and costs Dh4 per hour, while code K is assigned for long stay along the side of the roads and motorists can park here for 24hours for Dh4 per hour.