The Mall of the Emirates and Deira City Centre will be introducing paid long-term parking when the Dubai Metro begins operation on September 9 this year, mall management announced.
The plan is a system for shoppers who drive to the malls, giving the first three hours of parking free during the weekdays and the first four hours on weekends.
For customers visiting the malls’ CineStar cinemas, free parking will be extended by an additional hour on both weekdays and weekends.
The new system is based on industry research showing an average of 70 per cent of shoppers spend three hours or less in the malls during the week and four hours over the weekend.
Parking beyond three hours on weekdays will be charged at the rate of Dhs20 for every additional hour for the next three hours.
Over the weekend, the first and second extra hours above the four hours will be charged at Dhs40 and Dhs60 respectively.
Charges will only apply from September 10, a day after the Metro begins.
To introduce the system to visitors, a free trial period will begin on August 9, which will include the use of entry and exit barriers, ticket collection points and instructions.
Fareed Abdul Rahman, Vice-President, Divisional Asset Management for Majid Al Futtaim Properties, said the main aim is to ensure customer comfort and convenience with the new system.
“With the Mall of the Emirates and Deira City Centre Metro stations so conveniently situated there was the need for a parking management system to ensure parking remains accessible for our customers.”
Unlike other systems in place in Dubai, it is not dependant on how much you spend or what time of the day you visit, and the free parking actually lasts longer than the average amount of time spent by shoppers in both malls,” he said.
“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 both these malls in Dubai do not become park and ride stops for Metro users,” Rahman said.
