By By Faisal Masudi, Staff Reporter, Xpress www.gulfnews.com
Dubai: Students of a Dubai university have dumped car rides to take the Metro to get to class.
The switch was made possible in September when the University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD) rolled out a free bus service between Dubai Metro’s Mall of the Emirates station and the campus at Knowledge Village.
Around 300 students now make the seven- to 12-minute trip, which will be slashed by almost half when another much closer station opens opposite Dubai Media City, a neighbour of the college hub.
“It used to take me two hours to get to class from my home near Deira City Centre; I had to take two public transport buses,” said Liliya Khasanshina, a student. “It takes around 40 minutes now. Plus it’s cheap: Dh8 per day, both ways. I have classes three days a week.”
Another student from India, said: “It’s stress-free. Why deal with traffic? Besides, the Metro and the [UOWD] bus are always on time. And I don’t have to worry about petrol or parking space.”
Raymi van der Spek, UOWD’s Vice-President for Administration, said: “We launched the shuttle service in support of RTA’s [Roads and Transport Authority] campaign to encourage people to switch to the Metro. We are overwhelmed by the response from our students.”
