In North Al Khobar, much of the prime parking has been converted to paid parking. This created misery for the tenants of the buildings and has accelerated the decline in the popularity of the district as a shopping venue. Why go through the hassle to find a parking place, and then struggle to pay for parking, when local malls all offer free parking? About five years ago when paid parking was instituted, local officials stated that it would make it easier for people to shop and would revitalize the commercial district. The thought was that tenants of the buildings in the commercial district would no longer be able to occupy parking spaces for long periods of time, blocking shoppers from direct access to the retail establishments. No one considered the implications of paid parking for those individuals living and working in North Al Khobar or the complications in the operation and use of the Mawgif system. The Mawgif parking system depends on machines that dispense paper parking receipts. Once a driver parks his vehicle, he must scurry about, find a working machine and understand how to use it. Many things can go wrong, from the system being offline, to a single machine being out of service. Originally, the plan was that Mawgif Prepaid Cards would be widely available, but that never happened. Now the best choice is for a driver to load half riyal coins in a working Mawgif machine and get a parking receipt. Those that don't pay for parking for any reason, will find that an enforcer and a SR50 fine awaits. Now, just consider what the UAE's Ajman emirate has done in regards to paid parking. They have become pioneers in the first micro e-payment option for a public service in the region. The new e-payment service powered by PayFort, positions Ajman as the first government in the region to offer pay-as-you-go credit card payment for parking and other government services. Prior to the service launch, drivers in Ajman paid for parking manually using coins. Ajman drivers can now pay for parking easily and conveniently through Ajman's Municipality and Planning Department's Android and iOS apps. To use the new service, drivers enter their vehicle and credit card details into the app once and the credit card is saved as a token for future use. Parking fee payments are deducted from the user's account as and when authorized by the user. Cars registered in other emirates of the UAE are also eligible to use the service when in Ajman. “The Municipality and Planning Department - Ajman and the wider Ajman Government deserve recognition for pioneering the first smart payment option for a public service via a mobile app in the region,” said Omar Soudodi, Managing Director of PayFort. “App-based payment solutions are the future of fee payments for governmental services, and, with the launch of its first payment app, Ajman is positioning itself to be a future ‘smart city'.” Given the UAE's 74 percent smartphone penetration rate, the highest in the world, it is fitting that Ajman's Municipality and Planning Department is at the forefront of app-based payment system adoption. This is bolstered by the fact that the largest percentage of mobile payment users come from the 18- to 26-year-old demographic, which suggests that the importance of m-payment adoption will only increase in the future.
