Dubai: The inter-city bus service that shuttles between Dubai and Sharjah has carried 2.86 million passengers so far this year, a 6.4 per cent rise from the same period last year.
The increase in riders is due to the opening of more bus stops in Sharjah along the route, according to Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).
The buses that saw more stops along Sharjah’s Al Wahda Road and King Faisal Road are E303, E303A, E304, E306, E307, and E307A.
The increase in bus stops means that commuters to Dubai no longer need to go the central Al Jubail bus station in Sharjah, an RTA official says.
More bus stops helps “bring happiness to commuters, eliminate the thronging of Al Jubail Station, and augment the revenues of RTA by curbing illegal passenger transport activities from King Faisal and Al Ittihad roads in Sharjah”, said Basel Ebrahim Sa’ad, director of buses at RTA’s public transport agency.
The first pick-up point on King Faisal Road is near Jumbo Sony Station, and then the service stops opposite City Centre Sharjah, near the subway.
The last two bus stops are one opposite Safeer Mall and the other is opposite Ansar Mall.
On these routes, buses run roughly every 20 minutes, especially during morning and evening peak times.
The high frequency of buses is in order to accommodate the largest possible number of inter-city commuters, according to the RTA.
