By Staff www.khaleejtimes.com
The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has seen an increase in the number of passengers using public transport in Dubai during the first half of 2012, with 207.48 million taking the emirate’s mass transport system.
This compares with 180.54 million passengers using the Metro, public buses, water transport and taxis during the first half of 2011. Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA, announced on Saturday.
“Having set the full integration of public transport systems as an aim in its Strategic Plan, which is aligned with the Dubai Strategic Plan (Infrastructure Sector) envisaging fully integrated roads and transport systems while ensuring smooth traffic flow and high safety levels for users, the RTA has been fully focussed on improving mass transit systems to make them the first choice of mobility for commuters in the emirate,” said Al Tayer.
He added that the drive contributes to the target of minimising the use of private vehicles and improving mass transit use to 30 per cent by 2030. In 2009, mass transit usage was six per cent, while in 2011 it climbed to 10 per cent.
Dubai Metro witnessed a significant increase in passengers during the first six months of 2012, recording over 53 million commuters.
Al Tayer said: “The number of commuters using the Dubai Metro (Red and Green Lines) during the past six months hit 53,043,900 passengers, compared to 28,986,110 during the same period last year. January, March and May recorded the highest number of users of the Red Line of Dubai Metro at a rate of six million users per month, while March, April and May recorded the highest number of users on the Green Line at a rate of three million users per month.”
“The number of passengers using public buses during the first half of this year amounted to 53,539,895 passengers compared with 54,077,652 passengers who used public buses during the same period in 2011. Commuting within Dubai accounted for the largest share of passengers’ traffic recording 39,529,750 passengers, followed by the Metro Stations Feeder Service which lifted 8,131,895 passengers, and the Inter-City bus service which served 5,877,624 passengers.
Marine transit modes lifted 6,898,644 passengers; where abras were used by 6,678,798 passengers, Water Bus commuted 174,269 passengers, Ferry Dubai lifted 28,792 passengers and the Water Taxi served 6,785 passengers.
Taxis operating in Dubai made 47.65 million trips lifting about 94 million passengers. More info
