The Middle East is recognized as a progressive place. It is also known for all the new technological trends in all the industries especially automotive. Keeping up with the tradition of providing the best to the public and particularly drivers, a new innovative method has been introduced in the automotive sector. But only this time, it is not a fancy sports car or some exciting news about an upcoming vehicle.

Instead, there is a new method of paying the parking fees. As of now, this function is only available in Sharjah. If you want to know in-depth detail of this feature, keep reading.

Details of the venture

Paying parking fees in the parking lots can be a hassle and a long time consuming process if the space is filled. This is why the Sharjah Municipality is determined to add 800 devices accompanied by the latest touchscreen functionality. The huge number of digital devices will allow the customers to easily pay the parking fees in all the parking lots of Sharjah.

Till now, almost 400 devices with the best up-to-date technology have been already installed in the various parking lots and are operating. As for the other 400 devices, they are planned to be installed within the first quarter of this year.

The only reason why this facility has been added to the public space is simple and pretty obvious.

The goal is to follow up all the Civic body’s attempts to spread digital transformation all throughout the Middle East.

By providing the digital services to the citizens, both energy and time will be saved. Moreover, the number of payment choices will be increased for the customers during the payment for both regular and public parking fees within the city of Sharjah.

Also Read: 9 Things to Do to Maintain and Keep Your Vehicle Safe

Statements by the authorities

The director general of Sharjah Municipality, Thabet Al Tarifi, stated that the 800 devices will allow the customers to pay the parking fees by the help of the touch technology. This is just a continuation of the initial part of the plan during which the Sharjah Municipality installed a total of 400 devices in various places of the city.

Although everyone has seen a lot of innovation and technology in the Middle East till now, this project is the first of its kind. It is in accordance with the digital scanning of vehicles that was introduced by the municipality to check the public parking areas. This technology will automatically read the license plates of all the vehicles whose owners have previously paid the parking fees utilizing these touchscreen devices.

The assistant director general of the Customer Service Department, Khalid bin Falah Al Suwaidi, also gave insight into this function. He said that the municipality is determined to give it’s services via the ‘Sabeq’ digital transformation program. Their services are aimed at offering nothing but convenience and ease. The Sharjah Municipality has introduced a lot of projects which are in line with these trends. One of those trends is the touch technology public parking fees along with the digital scanning of all vehicles.

This information was added by Khalid.

Another figure, Ali Ahmed Abu Ghazeen, explained that the 400 devices which are already installed during the initial phase, covers above 15,000 parking lots throughout the Sharjah city. The front façade was altered. Afterwards, it was replaced by an electronic touchscreen which provides the facility of paying the parking fees without the obligation to give the reservation card at the front part of the vehicle, as underlined by Abu Ghazeen. According to him, this innovation has aided the efforts of Sharjah Municipality to transform into a paperless civic body. The environment will be preserved this way as well.

Moreover, he added that the Sharjah Municipality has offered the customers numerous choices of paying the parking fees. The wide array of options is supposed to add convenience so that the customers can select the one which meets their preferences. The payment options contain directly to the machine, by SMS or via the long-term subscriptions.

But this is not all! The Sharjah Municipality is about to introduce an electronic wallet app in the near future. By this application, the customers can fill up the wallet by a balance which can be utilized for paying the parking fees.So this was the entire news regarding the new perspective of paying parking fees. If you want to know about used cars prices in the UAE, check out CarSwitch where we have the best inspected and tested vehicles.

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