Source: Eugene Harnan, www.thenational.ae
The Metro station at Burj Dubai will begin operation on Monday to coincide with the official opening of the world’s tallest tower, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said.
The RTA will also provide extra buses to handle the large crowds anticipated for the opening of the tower, it said. The buses and the Metro station, which stands a few hundred metres from the tower, should help to keep congestion in hand, the authority said.
“We want to try and alleviate the traffic on the day of the opening because everybody will want to see what is going on and we’d expect traffic to be very heavy around the area,” Peyman Younes Parham, the RTA’s director of communications, said last week.
The station, capable of handling 11,000 passengers every hour, is initially expected to process about 10,000 passengers each day, said Mattar al Tayer, the RTA’s chairman of the board. It was difficult to estimate how many people would use it on the opening day, he said.
The Metro stop has residential and recreational facilities as well as restaurants and retail outlets, Mr al Tayer said. It also serves nine hotels.
Nearly a dozen feeder buses will operate on two routes linking Burj Dubai to nearby landmarks including The Palace and The Address hotels and Dubai Mall, as well as places further afield such as the Mazaya Centre. Serco, the Metro system operator, has its head office opposite the new station.
