By Andy Sambidge www.arabianbusiness.com
The number of passengers using Dubai Metro daily has more than doubled since the launch of the rail system, a senior official has revealed.
Mattar Al Tayer, chairman of the Board and executive director of the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) said daily users jumped to 116,340 in June, compared to 54,683 in October, the first full month of operations.
He added that July 1 recorded an all-time high, clocking 130,529 passengers.
The RTA chief said: “The huge investments pumped by the Government of Dubai to uplift the infrastructure of transportation sector has paid dividends and proved effective.
“The growth in the number of mass transit mode users reflects a shift in the culture of using public transport by all segments of the community and the drive was particularly helped by the metro service.”
He added that the numbers would increase further with the opening of the remaining stations on the Red Line with the rail network expected to lift about 35 million passengers in 2010.
The Green Line of Dubai Metro is scheduled to start operations in August 2011.
Khalid bin Al Waleed Station has been the busiest station so far with 3,145,210 passengers, followed by Mall of the Emirates Station (3,059,069), Al Ittihad Station (2,989,879), Deira City Centre Station (2,102,484) and Al Rashidiya Station (1,829,653).
Of the 10 new stations that opened in April and May, Ibn Battuta Station ranked first in the number of users clocking 466,554 passengers.
Al Tayer added: “People have started to perceive the benefits and advantages of using of public transport such as the psychological and physical comfort in transit, and reduced fuel and vehicle maintenance costs besides the contribution of using public transport to effectively cutting road accident mortalities, and reducing carbon emissions from vehicle exhausts.”
