Several shoppers at Dubai Mall expressed their delight at finding parking spaces easily and close to the entrance on the first day of the shopping destination's implementation of a paid parking system. Regular visitor Tasha Jackson expressed her extreme happiness, stating, "I frequently visit this mall for work-related purposes, but I haven't seen it this empty in recent times." She parked right next to the entrance at the Cinema Parking and was thrilled, as she usually spends 15 to 20 minutes searching for a spot, sometimes far from the entrance. She hopes the new system will allow her to quickly enter and exit the mall within an hour or less.
On July 1, Dubai Mall introduced a new parking scheme in collaboration with Dubai's road toll operator Salik, offering four hours of free parking on weekdays and six hours on weekends. Despite the absence of visible signs of the paid parking system, the implementation is seamless and barrier-free, as promised by the operators. The paid parking applies only to the Fashion, Grand, and Cinema parking, while Zabeel and Fountain View parking remain free. Early in the morning, both free parking facilities were extremely busy, with most levels showing either no parking or very limited availability by midday. A parking attendant noted that many mall staff parked their vehicles in Zabeel and Fountain View parking, explaining the relative emptiness of the other parkings.
Information boards displaying parking prices have been installed throughout the mall, especially near elevators close to the parking facilities. Shoppers will be charged Dh20 for up to 5 hours, Dh500 for 12 to 24 hours, and Dh1000 for more than 24 hours. Only cars with Salik tags can access the paid parking facilities at the mall, though it remains unclear how these cars will be detected or stopped. The new parking rules have adversely affected S.M., who works at Emaar Square adjacent to Dubai Mall. She found parking at Emaar Square difficult and expensive, often parking at Dubai Mall and walking to her office. Today, she took the metro to work, unsure of her future commuting options due to the metro's length and inconvenience.
