By Matovu A. Twaha www.gulftoday.ae
VISITORS from Sharjah to the Dubai Shopping Festival at the Global Village, Dubai, for the second time in a row, will not be allocated buses by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) because “the demand is very low,” as put by a senior official.
In 2010, many people who wanted to visit the popular annual DSF were left grumbling for lack of public transport, and this year too, it’s been a repeat of the same.
“Travelling by public transport to the Global Village is more convenient for us who visit with our families,” said P.T of Al Khan area in Sharjah. He added that it is not possible to get parking space close to the DSF event. “The parking yard is almost two kilometres away.”
Sharjah, for its part, will also not allocate buses for the shopping gala. “We do not have such arrangements in place, but the RTA has been filling that gap, I think they will do the same this time around,” said the Director of Inter City buses at Sharjah Transport Corporation (STC), Adel Khalil.
However, his counterpart in the RTA, Ali Abdullah Al Marzouqi told The Gulf Today, “The demand from Sharjah is very low, but the passengers from there can board buses to Al Ghubaibah (306) where they can connect to the Global Village daily.”
In 2008 and 2009, the RTA deployed a fleet of buses to bring visitors to the Global Village from various Emirates in a bid to encourage people to use public transport and help cut down on traffic jams.
Meanwhile, the RTA has announced the rescheduling of some Metro Stations Feeder Bus routes following an extensive study conducted to assess the needs of the commuters on the routes served by the feeder buses.
Accordingly, some feeder routes have been abolished (F 41, F 28 and F 06) and two more routes (F 29 and F18) will be abolished effective Saturday.
According to the Director of Business Planning and Development, Public Transport Agency, Mohammed Abu Baker Al Hashemi the abolished route (F 41) was used to link Ibn Battuta Metro Station and Jumeirah Islands; Route (F 28) was used to link First Gulf Bank Station with Umm Suqeim 2 and 3; and Route (F 06) was used to link Al Garhoud area with the Lulu Village.
