Parking woes for shoppers, traders

The shortage of parking lots across a number commercial streets and souq areas across Doha has caused both customers and business owners immense challenges, local Arabic daily Arrayah reported.Shoppers and business owners told the daily there are able pavement areas and pedestrian walk but the space dedicated to parking lots are shrinking. This has caused considerable inconvenience for both of them.Yousef al-Muftah, a shopper, pointed out that the lack of adequate parking lots at the souq areas and some commercial streets such as Najma, Souq Area, the Gold Souq causes customers big discomfort, especially the elderly and families with children."With the very hot weather during summer, it becomes difficult for many to walk long distances to the shops if they take public transport. Customers should also be considerate to others and try to finish their shopping as quickly as possible so that others can also get parking," he added.Abdulaziz al-Emadi believes that expanding pedestrian pavements during the development process has caused such shortage in parking lots in these key areas. He stressed that there should be balance in making the optimal use of these areas, while providing adequate number of parking lots to avoid the possible negative impacts.Salem al-Nuaimi stressed that business owners and shops at these areas are subject to potential losses due to the difficulties customers encounter when they try to find a parking. He suggested the entities concerned should work out some practical solutions and better utilise the available space to provide more parking lots.Saddam al-Saddi, a salesman at the gold market, said that the sales have dropped considerably as customers find it challenging to find adequate parking. He said back in the days when the souq used to have more parking lots, the sales were much better.Qassim al-Yeafei, another salesman at the gold market, reiterated the same concerns of his colleague. He said that women are the largest percentage of gold customers at the Souq and often they come with their children. Accordingly, the lack of parking area discourages them from coming to the market in the same place. He said that this issue should be addressed for the benefit of the business owners and customers.