A smooth ride

Commuting in Dubai and between the emirates in the UAE has become relatively easy, thanks to the public transport and road infrastructure development projects launched during the last six years.
Dubai, in particular, has been transformed from a car-oriented city to an emirate with an effective public transport system over the years with its buses, marine transport, a much-improved taxi service and last but not the least the introduction of the Dubai Metro.
It was the Government of Dubai that first took the initiative and formed the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in 2005, to tackle the challenges of increasing traffic congestion, road network and lack of public transport, due to rapid urban development. Other emirates followed suit and public transport authorities were established in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Ajman. It took the RTA a whopping Dh60 billion and a time period of six years to put in place a modern public transport system and to develop proper road infrastructure.
Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA, attributes this success to the support accorded to the RTA by the leadership of the UAE who, he says, were the driving force behind the achievements of the RTA in the last six years of its existence.
Speaking to Gulf News on the RTA’s sixth anniversary and Free Public Transport Day on November 1, Al Tayer said, “Rapid increase in the country’s population and the number of vehicles which crossed over 1.1 million in 2010 led to traffic congestion in the emirate, these were some of the challenges posed when the RTA was formed, but we overcame them by providing a modern public transport system in addition to massive improvement in road infrastructure.”

Rapid growth
The public transport system in Dubai has seen dramatic development in recent years. From incredibly humble beginnings, it has evolved into an invaluable service over the past four decades, with nearly a million people now using it everyday.
The first bus service began in 1968, with just four mini buses commuting on two routes only. Today, the city’s public transport system not only features buses, taxis and water transport modes such as abras, water taxis, water buses and ferries, but also the world’s longest fully-automated metro system which was launched on September 9, 2009. The fleet of buses grew from 301 buses in 2001 to 1,421 buses in 2010 and the number of passengers hit 113 million. Dubai Metro passengers rose from around 6.8 million in 2009 to 38.9 passengers in 2010. This year, the number is expected to reach 60 million.

Untiring efforts
By upgrading mass transit systems, the RTA managed to improve the percentage of trips made by mass transit modes from 6 per cent in 2005 to 10 per cent in mid-2011, and is seeking to increase it further to 30 per cent by 2030.
“We have already established reliable infrastructure, but changing the culture is the most difficult aspect. This will happen with time, through constant efforts to improve awareness and upgrading facilities,” said Al Tayer.
The efforts to enhance road traffic safety carried out by the RTA in collaboration with Dubai Police General Headquarters have reduced traffic mortality rates from 21.7 cases per 100,000 of the country’s population in 2007 to about 12.7 cases per 100,000 in 2009.
Al Tayer also revealed that the RTA has managed to complete 90 per cent of programmes and initiatives envisioned in its strategic plan which is based on the Dubai Strategic Plan 2015. The transport body has introduced several express solutions to improve traffic movement in more than 30 locations in the city. They ran several initiatives for improving traffic safety levels, including, organising awareness campaigns and constructing pedestrian bridges and crossings.

Major achievements
The operation of the Dubai Metro Project is one of the most defining achievements made by the RTA. The 74-kilometre-long driverless Metro network comprises the 51-kilometre-long Red Line opened on September 9, 2009 and the 23-kilometre-long Green Line which was launched on September 9, 2011.
The Dubai Metro gave a big boost to public transport as people from all segments of society are now making use of it in their day-to-day life. The RTA managed to increase the road network by a decent 29 per cent, as the length of the roads network in Dubai increased from 8,715 kilometres in 2005 to an enormous 11,209 kilometres in 2010. The number of bridges increased from 108 to 319 bridges (195 per cent increase), tunnels increased by 57 per cent, and the number of lanes crossing Dubai Creek increased from 19 to a very significant 48 lanes (153 per cent increase rate).
Some of the other major projects are the 13-lane Business Bay Crossing, building the new Al Garhoud Bridge with 14 lanes, constructing the six-lane Floating Bridge and increasing the number of lanes on Al Maktoum Bridge.