As of Monday, The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai announced there is a new way to get an e-ticket for parking – via the meter itself.
For years, we had the option to either pay for parking via SMS, the RTA Smart App or by putting coins in a meter and receiving a ticket. The later is no more in certain areas as the RTA has introduced paperless ticket machines.
As part of the smart transformation of the Parking Department in line with the RTA’s strategies strategic goals: ‘Smart Dubai and People Happiness.
The RTA started replacing the old parking meters with new ones early 2020 and installations will continue throughout 2020.
The new Smart parking meters have been installed in certain areas of Dubai. In these parts of town, tickets are not required on the dashboard of your car. Alternatively, you can use the RTA App or send an SMS to pay for parking.
Areas of the city with orange parking meters still require a printed ticket to be displayed in one’s vehicle. If a ticket is not displayed, paid by SMS or paid via the App, vehicle owners will incur an AED 100 fine.
How to use the new paid parking meters
Each of the ticket machines is fitted with a touchscreen interface. Via the screen, motorists can enter the details of their vehicle including their plate number.
Once entered, an electronic ticket is issued instead of wasting a paper one. Motorists do not have to display anything on their dashboard.
Users can pay by coins or their NOL card. Once paid, there is an option to print out a receipt. It is not required to put on the dashboard, it is only a payment receipt.
Note that this will only work on BLUE parking meters. Other machines will still print out a parking ticket.
