By Staff  www.arabianbusiness.com
Nearly nine million more people used public transport in Dubai during the first half of 2015 compared to the same period last year, it was announced on Saturday.
Dubai’s transport authority said a total of 271.3 million people used the metro, buses, taxis and marine transit in the first six months of the year.
The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said this compared to 262.5 million in H1 2014.
Mattar Al Tayer, director general and chairman of the RTA, expressed his delight with the sustained growth in the annual public transport ridership.
The RTA aims to reduce the use of private vehicles and augment the use of public transit to as much as 30 percent by 2030.
The UAE last week announced that it would let domestic fuel prices move more freely from August 1 in a bid to reduce the wealthy country’s love of gas-guzzling cars with big engines.
Gasoline and diesel will be deregulated and a new pricing policy linked to global levels will be introduced.
The latest RTA figures revealed that metro users in Dubai topped 88.2 million in H1 compared to 81.4 million in the year earlier period.
The number of public bus riders during the first half of this year totalled 66.5 million while marine transit modes, comprising abras, water bus, water taxi and Dubai Ferry, lifted 7.4 million people.
The RTA said taxicabs operating in Dubai made 53.5 million trips during the first six months of this year lifting 107.5 million passengers. More info
