No fees for Dubai parking payment via new app

An application solely dedicated to parking in Dubai has been designed and launched by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

The app is called the Smart Parking app, and was introduced together with 4 other new apps in an effort to isolate some popular services under the general RTA application and turn them into purpose-specific apps.

Apart from forming a new channel to avail the existing services regarding parking in Dubai, a couple of new services were added and many more are to come, promised RTA officials.

An important feature of the parking app is the availability of the mPay method, which does not include the 30 fils charge that is added when the payment is done by SMS.

mPay is an existing payment channel where users insert their credit or debit card details and thereby enable card payment through the channel were the payment method is adopted.

“People can opt to insert their details for every single transaction, or make an account. The mPay option is available on the parking app, but the SMS option will continue to exist for customers who prefer to use this method,” explained Ahmed Bahrozyan, CEO of the Licensing Agency at the RTA.

Location finding

Another new feature of the app is that it offers to find the nearest parking area based on the location of the customer, explains Adel al Marzooki, Director of Parking at the RTA.

“It will find the nearest available paid parking zone. Later, the app will also be able to direct the customer to the nearest vacant parking spot,” he elaborated.

Although not incorporated in the current app, the vacant spot finder is set to become an important feature of the app which will become available before the end of the year.

“We will start introducing this service to RTA parking buildings, but by the end of the year it will be applicable in all paid parking zones,” said Al Marzooki.

The GPS feature already enables a couple of other services now. Automatically identifying the area code and the parking code of an empty spot, the customer will no longer have to wonder about the code to insert, or whether the inserted code was correct. 

Further, maps can be displayed illustrating all paid parking zones in the emirate.

Available for all UAE residents

The new app is available for motorists from all emirates, who can use the services of the application by inserting the vehicle registration or number plate. Previously, a person from another emirate would have to register for the service, said Bahrozyan.

The fact that the service is now available on the smart phone also means that there are more user options, explained Bahrozyan. “For example, users can scan the barcode of their driver’s license or registration card, instead of inserting these details mandatory. This reduces the chance of error.”

Moreover, the app will inform its users about the availability of free parking during public holidays, and later this year it will allow for the purchase of seasonal cards or payment of fines.

The app is available on Android and iPhone and will soon become available on Blackberry too.

For more details about the use of the RTA application, click 5 new apps launched by the RTA
 

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