Source: www.ameinfo.com
As part of its ongoing commitment to establishing world class industry benchmarks, the Dubai Roads and Transportation Authority (RTA) will be presenting its strategic plans to integrate the metro with other modes of transport in the city at the 59th World Congress & Exhibition of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), a global industry event for the international transport community, taking place in Dubai from April 10-14.
As the proud host of the event, the RTA will also be presenting a number of worksheets that cover its strategic Plan for Dubai, the sector’s key milestones over the past half a decade, traffic management, and the sector of taxi operations management and performance, as well as various services and plans that encourage the use of public transport.
One of the key technologies that the RTA has launched to that end is the Unified Automated Fare Collection (UAFC) system that facilitates access and frequent use of the various modes of transportation available in the emirate. The AFC system allows electronic payment for public transport in the form of tickets or NOL cards. This technology is expected to be used in all modes of public transport across Dubai such as the Dubai metro, public buses and the water taxi.
The RTA will ensure the correct implementation of this technology through several test phases that will be carried out in association with Collis, a market leader in design and testing of smart card based electronic transaction systems.
A total of 44 Metro trains are now available in Dubai. At present, 22 trains are used for daily commuting services. The number of passengers reached 4.4 millions in the month of November 2010, an increase in the number of users by 145% in just 13 months since its opening in 2009.
