Avenues Parking
Starting today The Avenues parking will no longer be free. I think thats a good thing because I know a lot of people would rather park outside and not pay which means more parking space inside for me. If only Marina Mall started charging for parking also. Its got to suck for the employees though.
update: Parking turns out is 200fils an hour which is expensive! The mall is big and walking around takes over an hour so expect to pay at the very least 400fils if you are just walking around or going there for lunch.
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Feb 10, 2008
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33 Comments, add your own...
1. Zack | February 10th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Dude,
That is ridiculous! There’s like hardly anywhere to park outside…That means they are forcing customers to pay!
2. Hamitaf La Bookay | February 10th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
you’ve got to be kidding me..!!!
3. Zack | February 10th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Is that greed or WHAT! Now ppl who don’t want to pay have to compete for one the 10 (exageration) spots that are outside :(
4. chikapappi | February 10th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I think this is better..
5. EeLAaA | February 10th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Marina Mall will never charge on its parking since its on a BOT land (BOT project)! unless they change the rules and regulations (which they r masters at!). Avenues charged coz its a private owned project on a private owned land, thats why they are charging, which they will make a fortune from!
*all BOT projects can NOT charge on parking.
6. Zack | February 10th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
EeLAaA,
For those who don’t know, what is BOT????
7. Gillian | February 10th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
i thought IKEA has a policy of never charging for parking at their stores. How’s that gonna work? There’s no division underground! Will the outside magically be considered IKEA’s parking lot, and underneath won’t be?
8. Marzouq | February 10th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
I think thats a good thing, gets rid of the idiots who take too many spots! Lets see how this changes things!
9. shopa | February 10th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Just few days ago, I was telling a friend that they need to charge money for the parking.
I wonder if they’ll do parking validation though?!
10. Mishari | February 10th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Zack:
B.O.T. stands for Build, Operate, Transfer.
What it basically means is that the government will give a certain company land for it to BUILD a project on. The said company then OPERATES the project and derives profits from the project, and after an agreed upon period the project it TRANSFERED to the government. The periods for operation are usually extremely long, to make it worthwhile for the company, usually upwards of 10-20 years.
Done properly this should benefit both the gov. and the private company as the government get some sort of income from the project, maybe by leasing the land for example, while the company will get the land for either free or an extremely cheap lease, thereby reducing costs considerably.
The project then goes back to the government who might be able to derive some more profits from it. if not, atleast they used the land in a worthwhile way without committing massive amounts of money and human capital to it, and instead spending it on something more important like infrastructure or education, as well as helping the drive towards privatization.
11. Ahmad | February 10th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
even though you will not find a parking…
13. Hellraiser | February 10th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Before touting whether if this is a good or bad idea, a couple of facts:
What will be the charge per hour, if it is as high as the airport parking, this will be crap.
Parking ticket validation should be implemented. ie, if you go eat, shop or see a movie you will get your ticket validated by any of the shops and you will not be charged.
I always hated the avenues parking always over congested, as for outside space there are few!
14. Moey | February 10th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
The best thing ever, Mark the logo you have has the old arabic type… the type in arabic is الأÙنيوز now
15. Hamitaf La Bookay | February 10th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
I went to the Avenues today and asked:
It’s 200 fils per hour.. and its not a ticket it’s this little stupid chip thing that could get lost easily …
The entrances and exits to the avenues parking lot cause a lot of za7ma..so with the whole paying part.. it’ll slow down the movement of the cars.. I don’t know how to explain it.. but today the parking lot was no where near half full but the entrance was crowded because of the picking up the coin thing… Im guessing on holidays when it gets really crowded… it’ll be awful…
And paid parking or no paid parking — it still will be full of the idiots!!!
16. Hellraiser | February 10th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
It so happens that the idiots, I dont know whom you are refering to, are living in this country. These so called idiots are the product of this society just so it happens that few of you are lucky to be able to afford to travel and get some education does not make the rest of the world idiots. I digress, 200 fils is expensive.
17. jo | February 10th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
the chip thing is all over the uk now so thats nothing new.
its nothing to do with the fact they are charging you to park its the fact where else do you park ? its going to cause issues, people parking outside will make the flow of traffic getting into and out of the mall a nightmare. especially at weekends. its already a pain at weekends AND NOW ITS FREE.
the fact the entrance is just off a highway is also a huge problem.
18. uturn | February 10th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Not even 1 KD will stop “idiots” from crowding the place. A malls success is measured by pedestrian traffic regardless of whether they’re idiots or Enlightened people such as yourselves. So no mall operator will start charging money for parking knowing it will take a hit at the visitor numbers.
In short, Its still going to be crowded AND you enlightened people are happy that Big Business is rubbing you off of your money. Whose the idiot now?
19. SWOS | February 10th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
that’s good , no more helag in the parking.
20. Z District | February 11th, 2008 at 12:37 am
It won’t stop people from going gauranteed, it will just organize parking a little more.
I agree with Hellraiser, they should validate parking for going to shops inside the mall. Based on the numbers that I have seen they could between 65′000 KD to 129′000 KD a month from parking, revenue only. They have incentive to charge since now people are coming to the mall and they like the mall.
21. Bo-Bader | February 11th, 2008 at 3:52 am
That is the first time I have seen a modern shopping mall charging for parking! On the other hand, I can understand why because I worked on that project. They spent alot of money and efforts in designing the parking and they had to pay reroute and fix many roads around the mall.
22. Rashisha | February 11th, 2008 at 8:48 am
I understand why they want to charge i just think its dumb to pay for parkin in a mall…
23. Z District | February 11th, 2008 at 9:00 am
They charge for parking in Al Fanar if I am not mistaken!
24. Ralph | February 11th, 2008 at 9:20 am
The initial idea was to make it a flat rate of 500 fils. I don’t know what they changed. The parking that fit 3000 cars. Hello flous…
25. Zack | February 11th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Mishari,
Thanks for explaining B.O.T.
As for the charging the customers, all this will do is cause even more congestion at the entrance and exit to the underground car-park. This will make ppl think 10 times before going to The Avenues on a holiday or on a weekend. I for one do not mind paying the fee, but I sure as hell mind the congestion it will cause with the “coin” system in place.
I think this will make more ppl to go to Marina for their shopping needs instead. I know I will :(
26. Zack | February 11th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Z District,
Fanar have a microscopic parking and is in Salmiya, not in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by Highways like Avenues is….In Salmiya you have the option to park on the streets of Salmiya or in the parking behind Al-Bustan Mall…
In Avenues, where do you park if not in the underground car-park or in the few outside spots provided (which are usually all full during weekends/holidays, I might add!)?
27. Najeeb | February 11th, 2008 at 10:38 am
My comment on Gillian notes on IKEA Kuwait. I just got to know recently that the Avenues management is in dispute with the IKEA owners due to the new outlet of al Ghanim in the Avenue!
The agreement between both IKEA and the Avenues is that they should be the only furniture outlet in the mall and NOW al Ghanim is coming!
This is for your information dude.
28. Mark | February 11th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Najeeb but The One and Vanillian also sell furniture.
29. Najeeb | February 11th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Mark, they were approved by IKEA I guess. Anyway, the fight started recently between both managements. Neither Carfor nor IKEA will accept the charges in the parking lot. Lets see what is going to happen. Keeping in and that Carfor paid 3.5KD per sq meter and IKEA paid 4.5KD per sq meter. And recently Al Ghanim paid more than 10KD for the sq meter with a condition that they will sell other staff as well than electronics. (the margin is low for above 10 sq meter outlet).
Also, remember that the management has been changed in the last three years in the Avenues. this is the third one after acquiring this land.
30. lfc-q8 | February 11th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
they will start charging people for parking starting this friday
31. Musa'ad Haider | February 12th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
As long as they ensure that no one will have to circle the parking a million times before finding a spot (like in Souq Sharq), a nominal fee doesn’t bother me.
I really hope they implement ticket validation though. But I cant imagine them going that extra mile for customer’s sake when they can so easily get away with earning thousands by simply acting ignorant.
Inflation, torrent blocking and now paid parking at shopping malls. What is this country coming to?
32. Desert Girl | February 13th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Guess where I WON’T be shopping.
The price isn’t the problem - it is the traffic in the parking structures. It was bad enough without having to stop to pay.
It isn’t as if we have a wonderful public transport system in Kuwait where you can just hop on a metro rail and get dropped off at the mall….
Further, I agree that they should validate parking for those going to restaurants or making purchases (if not in total, then at a certain limit or at a discounted rate). Why should I pay extra for shopping in your store?
33. shosho | February 26th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
I went to the Avenues and untel now ther is no mony for barking I wonder from wher you get this statment ? and if its right when it will be activated ?
thanx,,,,,
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