Dubai
I am a frequent traveller on the Dubai Metro from the Al Fahidi Metro Station to ADCB Metro Station and I sometimes even travel to Jumeirah Lakes Towers (JLT). The escalators at the Al Fahidi Metro Station have not been working for more than two weeks. This is a concern for all passengers as they have a tough time to exit the station.
Additionally, for the past few days, the escalators at the Burjuman Station and Creek Metro Station have also not been functioning. It seems they have been closed for maintenance.
Since the escalators are closed, the elevators are overly crowded with passengers. To climb the flight of stairs is a huge task, especially for older people.
The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has offered a fantastic service in the form of the Metro and commuters are happy with this facility, but the maintenance at odd hours causes discomfort to all passengers. As a layman, I feel the maintenance work for the escalators should be done after peak hours have passed, when the stations are not busy. For example, the work could be conducted after 8pm, when the peak hours have passed.
Most passengers at these stations are travelling to work in the early hours of the day and later coming home after a long day at work in the evening. At that point, it becomes harder for people to climb the stairs or to wait for the elevator, with many impatient passengers pushing others around.
There have been times when I have seen people slip or lose their balance and fall on the stairs, while some are left breathless after climbing the flight of stairs.
It has been two weeks and no action has been taken by the RTA. I hope this issue comes to their attention and they fix the escalators urgently for the convenience of the passengers and to avoid any serious injuries.
— The reader works with an insurance firm based in Dubai.
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FACTBOX:
The reader’s concerns were raised with the management of RTA. They investigated the issue and responded: “Our apologies for any inconvenience your reader may have suffered due to escalators being out of service.
“RTA is aware of these problems and have recently changed the maintenance provider to improve the reliability and availability of the escalators at all of our stations.
“This new provider is carrying out more work during non-operational hours and commuters should see the benefits of this in the coming months.
“Over the past few months, we have been carrying out some necessary additional checks on our escalators and this may have resulted in additional downtime.
“Also, please note that we do switch off some travellators and escalators as an energy saving measure as part of our green programme, but this is during non-peak hours.
“Our apologies once again but we are working daily with our service providers to improve performance.”
