Dubai’s new parking tariffs to take effect from May 28

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority has confirmed that parking tariffs in the city will be modified from May 28.

Fees will be hiked for 23 per cent of the parking spots in the city, the RTA confirmed. The move is hoped to encourage more people to use public transport and to address the decreasing number of vacant parking slots in congested areas.

While the new rates differ depending on the area, the free parking period between 1pm to 4pm has been abolished under the new policy.

Read: Parking charges to rise across Dubai

The fare in multi-level parking terminals has also been raised from Dhs 3 to Dhs 5 per hour.

However the fee hike does not affect 77 per cent of the total parking slots in Dubai – amounting to about 130,000 spaces.

RTA’s Traffic & Roads Agency chief executive officer Metha bin Udai said: “The decision intends to increase the rotation of using parking slots in high-demand areas in order to make them available to the largest possible number of users.”

Eleven types of parking permits have also been made available and will cater those who are disabled, senior citizens and government entities, among others. Permits are also available at discounted rates for university students.

“The new policy of revising the tariff of public parking in Dubai is built on concept of ensuring that parking slots are not unjustifiably occupied, and are made available to the largest possible number of users especially at noon, to enable people visit hospitals, malls and banks,” said Udai.

“RTA is continuing to upgrade and broaden its service network through offering alternative solutions to encourage the people to use public transport means, which are considered integral part of Dubai infrastructure.”