More parking at Media City, Knowledge Village, DIC

Answering the cry of visitors to the Tecom areas of Media City (DMC), Dubai Knowledge Village (DKV) and Dubai Internet City (DIC), more parking spaces will now be opened, said the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

“The demand for parking permits seemed to be lower than expected, while the demand for visitor parking turned out to be higher.

“In response to this, we have transformed some of the parking permit slots into paid parking spaces for visitors to the area,” said Adel Al Marzouki, Director of Parking at the RTA.

According to Marzouki, the change has resulted in around 400 more parking slots for visitors in various areas, and the move has already been implemented.

“There is no specific area where this has been done. In every area some parking spaces have been turned into paid parking slots.”

Growing pains

Last year, a newly-developed parking scheme was implemented in three Tecom localities.

While companies registered in these localities were allocated parking permits on quota, visitors to the area were bound to the metered parking options, available in specific areas.

The scheme was introduced by Tecom Investments and the Road and Transport Authority (RTA), and aimed towards more hassle-free parking, prioritising free-zone staff.

While parking facilities improved for most employees in thriving communities, visitors soon complained about a lack of available parking space, with the most stemming from DMC.

When this reporter visited the area in December last year, few options were available for visitors.

More parking

Additional parking spaces were added to the area in March this year.

“Both the RTA and Tecom did a detailed study to determine the needed number of reserved and paid parking and per the current situation both types are fully occupied.

“Therefore, new parking areas will be added shortly,” commented Maitha bin Adai, CEO of the Traffic and Roads Agency (TRA) at RTA at the time.

Parking, where?

A new off-street car park with 670 new slots was completed in DMC, the area faced with the largest demand.

Of these new slots, 450 metered slots became available to visitors. However, the demand continued to rise, and the authorities re-evaluated the situation leading to the latest addition.

Meanwhile, the RTA encourages visitors to utilise public transportation means such as the metro and the bus, which serves several communities such as Ghubaiba, Discovery Gardens and Satwa.

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