By Andrew White www.arabianbusiness.com
Dubai Metro has carried 30 million passengers during its first twelve months of operation, according to official figures released on the eve of the anniversary.
In a statement carried by government news agency WAM, the emirate’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said that passenger numbers had jumped from 1.8 million in October 2009 to 3.3 million last month – a growth rate of 183 percent.
“The number of monthly passengers served by the metro broke the two million barrier in December 2009 and continued to grow steadily to hit 3,193,087 passengers in May 2010; the number still showed further growth to clock 3,301,959 passengers last August,” said RTA chairman Mattar Al Tayer.
Al Tayer added that the average number of passengers to use the metro each day jumped from 54,683 in October 2009 to 116,340 in June this year. A record was set on July 1, when a total of 130,529 passengers used the service, the statement said.
“The massive investments pumped by the Government of Dubai into developing the infrastructure of the mass transit sector have proved to be both successful and effective,” commented Al Tayer.
