Dubai Constructions Update by Imre Solt: July 2010

Al Tayer: Public transport users top 56m in the first half of 2010, 119m forecast by the year-end

Al Khawaneej & Jebel Ali Bus Depots to open this August

Bus punctuality reaches 62%, accidents rate equals 1:100k km

Journey numbers drop by 29%, kilometers done drop by 25.7%

Roads & Transport Authority – Mohammed Al Munji:
H.E. Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) revealed that public buses have commuted about 56 million passengers in the first half of this year and it is forecasted that the total number of public bus commuters would hit 119 million passengers by the end of the current year. Al Tayer also revealed an increase in bus punctuality as high as 62% coupled with a drop of accidents rate to 1 accident per 100 thousand kilometers done. Besides that he announced that the bus depots at Al Khawaneej & Jebel Ali would be opened in August this year.

Al Tayer elaborated: “Results of public bus service operational indicators revealed that in the first half of this year the bus ridership increased to about 56 million passengers lifted in 1.8 million journeys, of whom 44 million passengers used domestic bus routes “urban transport’’ operating over 80 domestic routes covering various districts and towns of the Dubai Emirate. About 7 million passengers used inter-city buses; which operate over 13 routes covering main cities across the UAE Emirates. The number of commuters using metro stations feeder buses amounted to 4.8 million passengers approximately. The monthly number of passengers using urban & feeder bus service during last March, April and May broke the barrier of 8 million passengers; as the number of passengers clocked 8,723,000 in March. In April the number of bus commuters clocked 8,515,000 passengers, whereas the number reached 8,158,000 passengers in May, 7,973,000 passengers in June, 7,784,000 passengers in February and 7,633,000 passengers in January. Metro stations feeder bus service showed increased ridership with passengers count jumping from 622,000 in January to about one million in May.

“RTA strategy has succeeded in improving the performance of public bus service, increasing bus operational efficiency, and reducing fuel consumption & maintenance costs. Public transport routes have been restructured in 2010 with a view to reducing the number of kilometers done, realizing operational efficiency, redistributing the frequency of the service in urban routes and metro feeder service, and redistributing routes & buses on depots to reduce the wasted mileage. This strategy has contributed to reducing the number of kilometers done from 8,889,000 km last January to 6,600,000 km last June recording a drop of 25.7%. Equally the total number of journeys dropped from 347,172 journeys last January to 246,393 journeys last June, recording a drop of 29%,” commented RTA Chairman of the Board and Executive Director.

Al Tayer further added: “The operational results in the first half of this year revealed that bus punctuality reached 62% and the safety & security indicator showed a drop in the accident rate to 1 accident per 100,000 km; which is attributed to the increased drivers training exposure, and higher traffic safety awareness amid drivers”.

“In August this year, RTA will open the two bus depots at Al Khawaneej and Jebel Ali. Al Khawaneej Depot has a parking yard for 284 buses; comprising 146 standard buses and 138 articulated buses in addition to an electromechanical workshop capable of accommodating 20 buses at a time, a supply line for 13 buses at a time, a cleaning and washing bay for 12 buses at a time and an administrative building for about 40 employees,” he continued.

“Jebel Ali Bus Depot has a capacity to accommodate about 300 buses of the three bus types; standard, articulated and double-deckers. It also has a 24 bay for accommodating 36 buses at a time for cleaning, washing and refueling services. The depot has office buildings to house 50 employees and residential units for about 1200 bus drivers employed at Public Transport Agency,” stated Al Tayer.

RTA Chairman of the Board and Executive Director further added that these projects were part of the comprehensive plan developed by the RTA to enable bus mass transit systems attract additional numbers of passengers with the aim of reducing traffic bottlenecks. “Such a plan warrants deploying sophisticated buses with high quality, affordable cost and wide geographical coverage so as to contribute to the provision of integrated multi modal transit systems spanning public buses, Dubai Metro and marine transport. The plan also envisages expanding the construction of air-conditioned bus shelters & bus depots, and developing electronic systems & programs such as the Journey Planner (Wojhati), Auto Vehicles Management, Unified Card, and Real Time Passenger Information System in addition to Sharekni and Awselni schemes,” said Al Tayer in a final remark.

Captions:
- Mattar Al Tayer
- Considerable growth in public bus ridership
- Air-conditioned bus shelters
- Wide ranging electronic to systems to ease passenger mobility

RTA opens bridges leading to entries & exits of Rashidya Metro Station Car Park

Roads & Transport Authority

The Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has inaugurated all bridges leading to the entry and exit points of the Park-and-Ride facilities of Rashidya Metro Station, where the second part of the project had been opened, which includes the right inbound from Sharjah towards the Metro Station, the traffic inbound from Abu Dhabi towards the Parking of the Metro Station, the right inbound from Al Khawaneej Road towards Abu Dhabi as well as the bridge from the Metro Station and Al Khawaneej Road towards Mirdiff and Sharjah.

Engineer Maitha Bin Adai CEO of Traffic and Roads Agency said that the construction of bridges leading to the entries and exits of the Metro Station car parks comes within the RTA strategy to provide speed and smooth roads network for the road users to get to the Metro Stations, in accordance with its master plan to upgrade the mass transit modes and attract additional numbers of riders to reduce the traffic jams, pointing out that the Al Rashidya Metro Station is considered one of key stations, as it is the launching pad of the Dubai Metro Red Line. The station comprises a giant multi-storey car park that can take around 2700 vehicles so as to encourage the public to use the metro while transiting throughout Dubai. The ground floor of the park was dedicated for the public buses, which will feed the Station with passengers. It was also taken into account to link the car park premises with the opposite side of the road leading to the Metro Station.

"The total length of the bridge is 2.5 km where its stage includes free turn junctures to the Emirates and Airport Roads and it also includes the construction of two bridges on Al Khawaneej Bridge to streamline the vehicular flow from and to the Al Rashidya Metro Station Car Park. This stage was opened in coincidence with the Dubai Metro inauguration on 09/09/09. This part provides entries to the Al Rashidya Metro Station on two levels at the road incoming from Sharjah. This part is 1 km. These bridges cross Al Khawaneej Road towards the airport," she explained.

She added that the project,which has recently been opened, includes 10 bridges with a total length of 1500 meters and roads stretching 2500 meters. This stage provides free traffic flow for the vehicles heading for the Al Rashidya Metro Station from Abu Dhabi. The second stage also includes improvements at the juncture of Emirates Road and Al Khawaneej Road to streamline traffic flow inbound from Airport Road towards Sharjah and the vehicles incoming from Abu Dhabi heading for Al Khawaneej Road.

With opening of the first and second stages, RTA achieved the execution of all the bridges leading to the entries and exits of Al Rashidya Metro Station car park.
Captions:

• Engineer Maitha bin Adai
• Smooth traffic flow on the new bridges.
• Layout of bridges leading to entries and exits of Rashidya Metro Station.