The City of Cape Town is pleading with motorists to abide by the on-street parking bay rules and be more aware of how they park in the CBD. Since October 12, the City’s Transport Directorate has been monitoring the use of parking bays closely which led to the issuing of nearly 700 fines for parking offences for the month of October alone.
Most of the motorists that were fined were parked in the vicinity of Long; Long Market; Wale; Plein; Spin; Albertus; Riebeek and Waterkant Streets.
With the introduction of Alert Level 1 of the National Lockdown, traffic within the CBD has increased and businesses desperately need public parking bays to be available throughout the day.
Despite the fines, the City has noticed that the illegal parking trend has not improved, unfortunately. It remains a serious concern. This can be attributed to the fact that more employees are returning to their workplaces within the inner-city and that commuters in general are having to spend longer hours within the Cape Town CBD.
“While these are all signs of a city bouncing back from stricter lockdown levels, the City has to ensure that motorists adhere to the applicable by-laws, especially in areas where local businesses are heavily dependent on the turnover of the on-street parking bays for their customers,” said The City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Transport, Alderman Felicity Purchase.
“As business within the CBD returns to normal and the traffic in the inner-city increases, we are appealing to all residents and visitors to abide by the parking rules and to not use the parking bays for longer than the allocated time, be it a 30 minute or 60 minute on-street parking bay time limit.”
Purchase added that small business should be considered by motorists to create a conducive environment for such business to return to normal, and thrive.
“I want to remind commuters that the MyCiTi buses also offer a reliable, safe, and scheduled service to get around within the CBD and from more remote parking garages,” she added.
Parking wardens will continue to monitor vehicles for the specific time frame indicated on the parking signage. Road users exceeding the time limit will be issued with a fine of R300.
The implementation of paid parking has been delayed until further notice. The City is aiming to implement the new parking management contract in the first quarter of 2021.
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