Source: www.rta.ae
H.E. Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), has recently received H.E. Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Salim Al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communication, Sultanate of Oman, in the presence of Abdullah Rafiee, Assistant Director General of Public Support Sector, Dubai Municipality; Adnan Al Hamadi, Executive Director of Rail Agency; and several RTA Directors.
At the outset of the meeting, Al Tayer hailed the fraternal relations between the UAE and Sultanate of Oman under the wise leadership of both countries. “The visits of delegations from GCC countries are great opportunities for exchanging expertise, boosting relations in all fields and capitalizing on the experiments of GCC countries. RTA puts all its experience and resources under the disposal of sisterly and friendly countries,” he said.
The meeting reviewed RTA experience in shifting from using private vehicles to mass transit modes. “From inception RTA was all set to upgrading mass transit modes to make them the ideal choice of the public mobility in the Emirate in an effort to raise the number of mass transit commuters from 6% in 2006 to 30% in 2020.
For this end RTA has constructed the Dubai Metro project; which is considered the longest driverless metro line ever constructed in the world as a single project. The Red Line was opened on 9/9/2009 and the Green Line is to be opened next September. The fleet of public buses has grown from 560 buses at the time of establishing the RTA to more than 1550 buses in 2010. More than 900 air-conditioned bus shelters have been constructed throughout Dubai Emirate bus stops. Bus depots have been completed at Al Awir, Al Rawiyya, Al Khawaneej and Jebel Ali. In the field of marine transit modes, RTA has operated the Water Bus, Water Taxi, Ferry Dubai in addition to more than 154 abras,” said Al Tayer.
“As a result of these efforts, mass transit systems in the Emirate have become dynamic in the daily travel of residents and visitors where the number of public bus commuters has soared from 120 million passengers in 2006 to 163 million passengers in 2010. From the start of operation, the Dubai Metro has lifted increasing number of commuters clocking about 39 million passengers in 2010 whereas marine transit modes have lifted more than 15 million passengers,” added Al Tayer.
