COUNCILLORS are fuming that authorities are dragging their feet on a study to introduce smart parking meters that was promised in June last year.
Then Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning Ministry Work Affairs Under-Secretary Ahmed Al Khayat had promised a system that would have helped people pay for parking via BenefitPay or a custom-made app.
This followed complaints that drivers were most often caught with insufficient small coins in their pockets to feed the parking meters, and had to risk being fined.
In the meantime, Oman has already started a phone parking system despite Bahrain being the first GCC country to announce the concept.
The new pay by phone parking system in Muscat
The Southern Municipal Council approved a proposal in 2020 by chairman Bader Al Tamimi to have smart parking meters.
The proposal was also presented as a solution during the Covid-19 pandemic to reduce touching money.
The GDN reported previously that the ministry was considering several digital systems tests and comparisons were being conducted.
Motorists face a BD50 fine for improper parking or pay and display indiscretions which is halved providing a settlement is made within seven days of the registered offence.
Parking meters are in place in Manama, Gudaibiya, Hoora, Muharraq, Isa Town and Riffa, among other areas.
On-street parking is charged at 100 fils per 30 minutes, from 7am until 7pm. There is a maximum two-hour stay allowed.
“It shouldn’t take a year to present a study on digitalising parking meters, when it took just a few weeks to introduce BenefitPay which many already use at fuel stations,” said Capital Trustees Board chairman Saleh Tarradah.
Mr Tarradah
“Most people can’t go around searching for coins, especially the elderly and those with disabilities, if they could easily pay through mobile phones.
“It is also difficult to rush from one end of the Old Manama Suq to another just to pay and get a ticket to display for traffic police not to issue a fine.”
An out-of-service meter in the Old Manama Suq yesterday
Mr Al Tamimi said he hoped that the new system can be implemented in time for Eid Al Adha, Ashoora and at the very latest before children return to school after the summer holidays.
Mr Al Tamimi
“I made the proposal during the peak of the pandemic and we received a response more than a year later, in June 2021, that implementation was around the corner. National elections are around the corner and nothing has been done.”
He added that the issue of shop workers and company employees taking an unfair advantage by filling up parking spaces for long periods and preventing others from using them could be easily resolved.
“The two-hour limit is there to ensure everyone benefits from parking spaces and that would stay the same, so an electronic alert would show if someone was breaking the rules through computerised registration,” said Mr Al Tamimi.
The Pay and Display meters cover 2,400 car parking areas located on nine trade roads across the country. Each solar-powered device covers 15 car parking spaces at a time.
The high-tech machines, which are computer-programmable, have been designed for payment by coins.
Mr Al Khayat said previously that a new electronic system would ensure that the motorists pay without the excuse that they don’t have enough coins in their pockets.
He added that it would also give market visitors more time should they originally opt to stay for an hour and then have to rush back to their car to add another hour, or return home before they are finished shopping.
“The move would also save on the cost of printing tickets needed to be displayed on the windshields as parking information would be in the system and could be easily checked.”
mohammed@gdn.com.bh
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