SOME people with disabilities in Dubai consider the Dubai Metro their future means of transportation as it is being equipped with facilities designed to meet their needs.

This is according to a recent social study conducted by two researchers from the Department of Welfare and Rehabilitation of Persons with Disability at the Ministry of Social Affairs – , who specialises in the science of disability, and Rawhi Abdat, a psychologist.

The study aimed to identify the attitudes of persons with disabilities towards public transport in Dubai, as well as to identify the barriers they face while using it, according to the gender of the disabled person and the type of disability.

The study revealed that 37 per cent of the sample – consisting of 53 people with disabilities – had future plans of using public transport to commute to work, place of study or entertainment venues, while 20 per cent would use public transport only in case of necessity. The latter noted that “using the water bus and public buses create the fear of using public transport because of the fear of being subjected to harm or damage during transporting.”

According to Fawzi, the study included 30 male and 23 female respondents of various physical, hearing or visual disabilities. He added the study “showed that 43 per cent of them used public transport, while 56 per cent relied on private means – especially their own vehicle or the family car – while 28 per cent used private buses and cars of commercial and educational institutions or centres they belong to, while 15 per cent used taxis.”

He attributed the disabled people’s hesitation in depending on public transport to the impressions and prejudices that they have without an actual experience on the public vehicles. He noted that another reason was that many of them depend on the use of private cars, which provide comfortable and secure transport for the disabled.

Fawzi explained that 30 per cent of persons with physical disabilities faced problems in using public transport because of the difficulty of moving and getting in to the transport vehicle. Meanwhile, 26 per cent were not capable of getting a ticket because of the narrow gates, while 22 per cent faced difficulties in reaching the stations and the bus stop.

“Most of the disabled people fear exposure to a bad experience while using public transport,” he noted.

“Thirty-seven per cent expressed fear of being hurt and damage while some of them attributed the reasons for their [hesitation] to the lack of training or rehabilitation for using public transport, ignorance of the facilities that are available in these means, and their fear of weak communication between them and the driver or workers,” he noted.

Moreover, 41 per cent of disabled people refuse to even think about using or depending on public transport in the future, although all the amendments and facilities needed by the disabled have been made.

According to Fawzi, “Most of those abstaining from using public transport have private cars and family cars ensure comfort and independence in transporting.”

He pointed out that 34 per cent of disabled people said they will not give up a private car, while 24 per cent expressed their willingness to use the Dubai Metro. Another 7 per cent noted that they would use taxis and 6 per cent intended to use public buses, he added.

Based on the results, the study reached a number of recommendations put in a special guidebook for people with special needs on how to use public transport.

Fawzi stressed that “the recommendations summarised a number of facilities that would encourage disabled people to use mass transport, including providing more facilities on public transport buses and  water bus to suit the disabled.”

The study recommendations included establishing a committee comprised of representatives of the Roads and Transport Authority and the Ministry of Social Affairs as well as persons with disabilities themselves.

The committee’s task would be to examine the difficulties faced by the disabled persons during their use of public transport, in order to overcome them.

It could help increase awareness among persons with disabilities and their institutions about public transport accessibility. Moreover, it could help provide more facilities that would make public transport more accessible to disabled people — especially to those with physical disabilities, who would need ease in boarding and disembarking, as well as free movement.

This month, the United States has withdrawn its combat troops after a seven-year Iraq campaign. It follows an earlier withdrawal – the withdrawal of the promise to leave a stable, free and democratic Iraq.

Nearly a decade after the US invasion, with an unemployment rate of about 40 per cent and thousands of refugees driven from the country in search of a safer, better life, the rhetoric of a free Iraq has given way to the necessity of a stable Iraq – one which provides opportunities for the 30 million people who remain.

Their future lies not in the shifting promises of the bickering political leadership or the vagaries of aid disbursement, but in the certainty of employment and economic progress.

The hope is that the major investments that have taken place, particularly in the energy sector, will have knock-on effects to the rest of the economy. Private foreign investors are keen to capitalise upon Iraq’s potential – and contribute to its rebuilding. Over $63 billion poured into the oil, gas and real estate sectors between 2003 and last year. As of 2009, the UAE was the leading foreign investor in Iraq, contributing more than $31 billion.

More than 83 per cent of investment has been allocated to so-called mega-projects. Less is said of the small businesses that have been stifled since economic sanctions in the 1990s. The family-run store, normally the backbone of the community economy, has to be revived or else their sons will return to the street.

As much as anything else, security relies on a basic quality of life. “Electricity is worse than ever,” Sheikh Ahmad al Kinani, a Shiite in west Baghdad, told The National yesterday. “Children and elderly are dying from the heat.” Indeed, even after years in power, the US-backed Iraqi government has been unable to provide stable services of water, electricity and other necessities. That must change.

The fuel of this redevelopment is, not surprisingly, oil. Given the country’s possession of the second largest reserves – and the hope of relatively stable oil prices – the economic trajectory should be positive. Plans to increase the country’s output capacity fourfold by 2017 are perhaps overambitious, but confidence is the key to growth.

The country’s boosters have predicted an urban Metro in Baghdad within 10 years. They are paid for such rosy assessments. Iraq, and particularly her cities, are recovering from one of the most ravaging periods in modern Middle Eastern history. The country has the resources to again become a pillar of the region, but it is a long road ahead.

The Licensing Agency at Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has revealed its 2010 plans aimed at intensifying and augmenting the scope and reach of its commercial transport activity services to cover all areas of Dubai through targeting commercial companies.

Furat Ali Al Amri

Furat Ali Al Amri, Acting Director of Commercial Transport Activities Dep’t at RTA Licensing Agency, stated: “The Department is currently pondering expansion of its commercial transport activities and commercial registration & licensing services to businesses and corporate customers, to bring the services to them, thus saving them both time and effort”.
 
Al Amri added: “From the beginning of the current year, the Department has enhanced the commercial registration & licensing services by setting up Al Barsha Center and deployed front-end employees to deliver services to customers after being trained on the applicable commercial licensing system. We are now in the process of activating this service at the Al Aweer Center later and thereafter at all service centers of the Agency as well as sub-centers of Customer Service Centers Department”.
 
“Through this expansion, the department seeks to make the services readily accessible to customers and attract commercial companies. In this respect we have conducted a study on vital commercial activities which include commercial companies, and enhanced the role of the Department in this field. Accordingly, we have decided to be available in the proximity of these companies, in which way we can reach them and make it easier for them to access our services”.
 
“During 2010 we are keen on stretching the scope of our commercial transport activities and the scale of our services to cover the entire Dubai Emirate. That is why we have targeted Jebel Ali and Al Aweer areas as they are commercial zones bordering other Emirates and swarmed with commercial companies. By reaching these companies, we can promote many of the services provided to them and make it easy for customers to get to RTA offices spread all over Dubai Emirate”.
 
“The expansion plan is based on decentralization of services and lessening the pressure on Deira Center. Through this plan, we aim to better serve these businesses, heed to their opinions, feedback, and attend to their fresh inputs so as to implement them in a way that would enrich and promote the economy” added Al Amri.
 
He concluded that the services relating to the Commercial Transport Activities Department used to be provided by a single staff at Deira Traffic, RTA Main Customer Service Center and the Department of Economic Development.

But now, we are working towards energizing this activity in all branches to assist customer accessibility to the commercial licensing services through increasing the number of counter employees who can provide miscellaneous services without centralizing the whole service in a single center.

Dubai metro video. 7 November 2009.

Source: www.youtube.com

DUBAI // While it does not yet match the frantic pace of the London Tube or New York Subway, a morning rush-hour commute appears to be developing on the Dubai Metro.

Christopher Gintner, an architect, at work on his laptop aboard the Dubai Metro as he travels to his office in Deira. Stephen Lock / The National

From 6am, men and women in suits can be seen on station platforms along the Red Line, laptops and newspapers tucked under their arms, ready to board the first trains of the day. Carriages are often filled with commuters listening to iPods, working on laptops, reading books or just taking in the view. By 8am, there is often standing room only.

“It’s just like home but at least I have more chance of getting a seat,” said David Sherry, 28, from London. “I can read my book and check my mails on the BlackBerry.”

A veteran of the London Underground, Mr Sherry has been able to recapture some of his past commuting habits.

“Before the Metro opened,” he said, “I was stressed out when I drove down Sheikh Zayed Road. Sometimes it’s hell, but here on the train I find a seat, plug in my iPod and read. I don’t have to circle the office for 20 minutes looking for parking, either. Once I get off at the station, I buy a coffee and get to my desk fully relaxed.”

Lawrence Durren, a 28-year-old engineer from Australia, said he used commuting time to check e-mails and read papers online.

“I used to do that in the office and spend half an hour doing so,” he said. “Now I pay Dh20 for three hours of internet access, so it’s good value.”

In trying to clear congestion on major highways across the city, the RTA is offering not only a ride on the train but also an entire portfolio of feeder services, including taxis and buses.

It has boasted that every resident eventually will be within 500 metres of a bus that feeds a Metro station.

To date, however, only 10 of the 29 stations are open, and only 25 of the eventual 41 feeder routes operational. By next April, 518 buses are scheduled to be operating on feeder routes.

Transport chiefs hope to increase the number of public transport users from six per cent to 20 per cent by 2020 by targeting people such as Mohammad Saadawi, a Lebanese sales assistant in the Burjuman shopping centre.

“I have to walk across a dusty patch of sand to get a bus stop,” Mr Saadawi, 27, said while looking down at his sandy shoes. “I used to take two buses to get to work, but now a bus and the Metro gets me to the shop.”

Or like Ahmed Rivzi, 36, a sales executive from Lebanon who lived in the UK for three years.

“It is just like London,” Mr Rivizi said. “So many different nationalities all riding the same train. It is interesting to the watch people who get on. Some look like they’ve been doing it for years, while others look like it’s their first time on a Metro. Maybe it is.”

Jonathan Wilbur, 31, is one Dubai resident for whom there is little novelty.

“I grew up in New York,” said the finance industry professional, “so it’s a part of life to get to work by the Metro. Driving was such a pain here.”

After just 16 days of operation, the Dubai Metro has carried more than one million passengers. During the first two working days after Eid, nearly 5,000 people used the Metro between 6am and 9am.

On September 23, 4,788 people took the Metro during the morning rush hour, with nearly 600 embarking at Al Rashidya station, which has parking for nearly 3,000 cars to accommodate commuters from Sharjah. At the opposite end of the 41km Red Line, 331 commuters used Nakheel Harbour and Tower Station on that day. Union station was the busiest, with 1,046 passengers, and Financial Centre the quietest, with 181.

“I saw the queues at the weekend in Mall of the Emirates, but it is nothing like that in the mornings,” said Noura Salaman, an events manager from Lebanon. “I park my car at Nakheel Harbour and Tower Station and take it three stops to Financial Centre.”
eharnan@thenational.ae