The municipality of Eilat has declared a war of attrition against the vacationers who come to Eilat on their way to the Sinai Peninsula, and park their cars in every corner of the city, while blocking residents' parking lots, blocking entrances and causing damage to businesses.
However, the solution offered by the municipality of Eilat to travelers to Sinai - preparing a large parking lot in the area of the old airport - is in fact not applicable to most of them due to a built-in failure of the meters that the municipality placed there, and some of those going to Sinai who park their cars there receive large fines.
Crowds wait in line at the Taba crossing (archive), photo: Yehuda Ben Yathach
Against the background of an unusual load of vehicles parked in the parking spaces marked in gray throughout the city of Eilat, mainly vehicles of those moving to Sinai, the municipality of Eilat announced changes to parking arrangements throughout the city.
In addition to the prohibition of overnight parking along the southern coast, in the nearby dirt squares and in the shelters in the city's neighborhoods, the municipality marked sidewalks on central routes in blue and white, where only paid parking is allowed.
For the benefit of those moving to Sinai, the municipality expanded the long-term parking lot in the area of the old airport, at a cost of NIS 25 per day.
Parking in prohibited places will result in fines and vehicle towing.
The southern beach parking lot in Eilat, photo: Yehuda Ben Yathach
However, it turns out that the solution of the municipality of Eilat for those going to Sinai is not actually applicable to a large part of those coming through the gates of the newly established parking lot.
In the last two weeks, dozens of complaints were received from vacationers who returned from a vacation in Sinai about reports given to them while they were camping in a long-term parking lot operated by the municipality of Eilat.
The reason: the municipality placed two meters in the place, with only one of them working and it also only works on coins, which requires the vacationers to prepare dozens of coins if they want to park for several days.
While it is possible to activate the Pango or Slowpark parking applications to resume parking, it turns out that these can only be activated from within Israel, and Israelis who traveled to Sinai discovered that they cannot activate the application from Egypt, even if they have a local SIM card or wireless internet at the hotel.
Avi Cohen, who went to Sinai with his family, told "Israel Today" about the farce in the long-term parking lot of the municipality of Eilat: "The miner in the long-term parking lot only works on coins, so every day you have to put in twenty-five coins. I don't know anyone who comes with coins to 5 days. We tried to operate Pango remotely, but we couldn't from Sinai. We have no problem paying for organized parking, but what the municipality did is wrong. It feels like someone is ripping us off. I didn't get fines, but I saw many of my friends in the parking lot who did. It's a shame that this happens and they didn't regulate it The payment in the parking lot as it should be with payment options."
Let's recall that since the Taba border was opened 24 hours a day, the city of Eilat has been dealing with traffic congestion due to an unusual number of vehicles whose passengers crossing to Sinai prefer to reach the city in their private vehicles.
In July, for example, about 80,000 Israelis crossed the Taba border, a large part of them arrived in Eilat by private vehicle.
According to the mayor of Eilat, Eli Lankri, "This year, after almost three years in the shadow of the corona virus and since then Sde Dov has been closed, we are feeling the heavy loads on Route 90, on the city roads and in parking lots throughout the city, both for vacationers and for those passing through China who choose to come to the city of Eilat in their cars.
We respect those who go to Sinai, but this cannot come at the expense of the city's residents and vacationers.
This is how we expect those moving to Sinai to respect us and park in an orderly manner in the parking lot that is offered at a low daily price and thus avoid fines and vehicle towing."
Eilat Municipality stated in response to the claims: "Starting August 1, the long-term parking is offered at a cost of NIS 25 per day. There are two meters in the complex and you can also pay for parking using Pango. In the coming days, a third meter will be installed that allows payment by credit card."
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us