By Ashfaq Ahmed, Chief Reporter, www.gulfnews.comÂ
Dubai: Forty-one new bus routes will be unveiled in the next two months as part of a feeder service on the Dubai Metro Red Line.
The Red Line is scheduled to begin operating on September 9.
The feeder bus service will ferry passengers to and from Metro stations, according to Mohammad Al Hashemi, the director of planning and business development of the Public Transport Agency at the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).
“The feeder bus service has been designed to carry passengers from the Metro stations to the communities around the stations,” Al Hashemi said.
In an exclusive interview with Gulf News, Al Hashemi said that 41 new bus routes would serve 29 stations on the Red Line.
“[The] maximum walk to get to the feeder bus stop will be 500 metres,” he said. He said the feeder bus service would play a key role in attracting passengers to use the Metro.
“It is the perfect answer to the calls of commuters who were worried about reaching the Metro stations especially during summer.”
Al Hashemi also said the buses would have numbers starting with the letter ‘F’.
“We have already launched three routes – [the] F46, F43 and F53 – starting from the Ibn Battuta Metro Station to nearby communities including Gardens, Discovery Garden, Green Community, Dubai Lagoon and Dubai Industrial City,” he added.
Al Hashemi said that 787 buses would be used in the feeder service for both the Red and the Green lines. The average frequency between buses will be 10 minutes. However, it will be only five minutes during peak hours and for busy stations.
The buses will operate on routes covering two to three communities near the stations.
Out of the 787 new buses, about 500 will be dedicated to the Red Line. Approximately 250 will be for the Green Line, which is set to start running in March 2010.
