More paid parking spots from Sunday

KABEER YOUSUF

@kabeeryousef

More paid parking spots will go live at more than a dozen locations in Muscat Governorate from Sunday, according to the Muscat Municipality.

These spots, located in and around Ruwi, Al Khuwair and Al Khoudh, which were free parking areas till March 5 are parts of downtown commercial areas and vehicles parked here should follow the parking rules as in other areas of the city.

These busy commercial areas include Al Khoudh Market area behind the Ooredoo Store, area around Sultan Qaboos Mosque in Ruwi and Sultan Qaboos Street in Al Khuwair south at the service road opposite to commercial buildings.

“We are inaugurating parking meters in some locations in and around Ruwi, Al Khuwair and Al Khoudh and meters are active from 12.01 midnight on Sunday, March 6’’, the spokesperson from the Muscat Municipality told the Observer.

One can send SMS from his/her vehicle number, code and time in minutes to 90091. The sender will be notified by the computer system about the parking ticket number, car number, car code, purchase date/time, expiry date/time and the like and an alert will be sent five minutes prior to the parking duration ends.

One will be charged parking fee from 8 am to 1 pm and from 4 pm to 9 pm on all working days, while parking will be free on Fridays, Saturdays and official holidays. The cost of parking via text message is 110 baisas for 30 minutes which include 100 baisas for parking and 10 baisa for SMS.

One can check the remaining time in his parking account by sending a message ‘TIME’ to the number 90091 and follow the steps to inquire about the remaining time.

“Alternatively, one can use the parking machines located at these parking spots and receive a parking ticket which needs to be displayed on the dashboard. However, we are discouraging this method as we are reducing the number of such machines and encourage the online payment system,” he added.

The Muscat Municipality has earlier announced that it was in the process of removing all parking meter devices gradually requesting all to get used to electronic reservation SMS system.

The spokesperson further said that the decision to implement more paid parking zones in and around the city was taken due to an increasing number of vehicles which use free parking, and to avoid traffic congestion due to abandoned vehicles in free parking slots.