Emirates Capital Host for Parking Symposium


BY PETER GUEST


(UAE) National Exhibition Centre inOctober.The three-day expo and conference had moved to that ven- ue to allow for a larger exhibition space, and this year there were more than 40 exhibitors. They included a delegation from the U.S.-based International Parking Institute (IPI), which was support- ing the show and provided a num- ber of the speakers. The exhibition had an international flavor with booths from India, China, Ger- many and the UK, as well as the US/IPI delegation.


T The main backer ofMEPS 2010 was


the Abu Dhabi Department of Transport (DOT), which took over responsibility for rolling out the capital city’s ParkingMan- agement Program, or Mawaqif, in 2009. When fully implemented, it will cover more than 70,000 street parking spaces. So far, about 18,000 are in place, with the program due to be completed by mid- 2011, about a year sooner than expected. The city has a deficiency


in parking supply, partly caused by the failure to enforce building standards that would have ensured that private developers provided basement parking in new buildings. To address this deficit, the city’s DOT is embarking on a program to build a further 23 underground parking facilities. These are being promoted as Build, Operate, Transfer (BOT) projects, and offers to build two robotic and six con- ventional car parks are being solicited for this year. The DOT people are very gung-ho about these projects, but others are rais-


26 Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Transport Opens the 2010Middle East Parking Symposium.


ing questions about the commercial via- bility of the facilities when, with the cur- rent tariffs, it seems unlikely that income would be sufficient to cover the costs. Abu Dhabi had similar problems some time ago when the city attempted to


in a surprise move, the DOT recently decided to opt for a second supplier, using the German ATB meter, which is widely installed elsewhere in the UAE. It also seems that the meters now being installed do not have the planned credit card facili- ty. The DOT has launched a pre-subscription


mobile


The program was originally launched using a single supplier (Parkeon) for the planned 3,000 parking meters.


attract bidders for their existing car parks. With no street controls those BOT proj- ects had no takers, and eventually the government had to build and operate the car parks themselves. The programwas originally launched


using a single supplier (Parkeon) for the planned 3,000 parking meters. However,


JANUARY 2011 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


phone payment system and has plans to launch the planned open-access mPark- ing service in the future. In another surprise move,


the Abu Dhabi DOT also announced the introduction of a rechargeable parking card in addition to the current one-use decrementing cards. (Asimilar


rechargeable card system was abandoned inMadrid because of the level of fraudu- lent recharging that was taking place.)The planned IT service also seems to be behind schedule since a year on, parking tickets are still handwritten and residents’parking permits are still paper-based.


Continued on Page 28


HE THIRD MID- dle East Parking Symposium (MEPS 2010) took place at the Abu Dhabi


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