UAE | Traffic and Transport

Building the future of Dubai transport

Roads and Transport Authority marks significant progress in completing major projects to reduce congestion on the emirate's roads.

  • Gulf News Report
  • Published: 23:24 November 28, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • RTA is working on an integrated network to keep the city's residents moving. New infrastructure projects, including a new bridge over Dubai Creek, the world's largest automated Metro system and waterbuses, combined with improved highways, a modern taxi fleet, integrated bus service, a tram network and Salik all ensure Dubai keeps moving forward.
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It costs Dubai up to Dh4.6 billion per year in time lost in traffic on the emirate's roads. The Roads and Transport Authority acknowledges that this is one of the greatest challenges facing the fast growing city, and says it is doing all it can to solve the problem at a manageable pace and in a sustainable way.

The authority stresses that it co-ordinates with relevant authorities in other emirates to ensure a free flow between them.

While an end to the traffic woes of Dubai is not in sight yet, Chairman of the Board & Executive Director of the RTA, Mattar Al Tayer, says that that the authority is working round-the-clock to make sure Dubai motorists will eventually be able to commute easily around the emirate.

Al Tayer stresses that achievements in the three years since the RTA's establishment are significant in light of the growth of infrastructure, population and vehicle registration.

An expansion of roads, new interchanges, and more public transport systems will eventually reduce congestion in Dubai, says the RTA, as well as stressing its belief in that toll gate systems are having a profound impact on the reduction of traffic congestion in the city.

In an exclusive interview with Gulf News on the occasion of the RTA's third anniversary, Al Tayer explained what the authority has achieved and the challenges ahead.

Gulf News: What are the major hurdles that the RTA faces in achieving its goals, and how does it overcome them?

Mattar Al Tayer: The most important challenge faced by Dubai in terms of transport is traffic congestion, that costs the emirate annual losses of Dh4.6 billion due to time lost in traffic. [Also important is] traffic safety since the rate of death [related to traffic accidents] is 17 cases per 100,000 people, compared to five to six people per 100,000 people in countries like the UK and Sweden. The annual financial loss [due to accidents] is Dh800 million.

Another challenge is the limited use of public transport, which does not exceed six per cent, while public transport use in advanced countries is between 40 and 80 per cent, apart from fulfilling the needs of the fast development. Traffic in Dubai is increasing by 13 per cent every year, compared to European countries where the increase is two to three per cent.

The annual increase of residents in Dubai is more than six per cent annually, compared with two per cent in most European cities. The increase in the number of registered vehicles has reached 17 per cent in Dubai every year, whereas this figure does not exceed four per cent in European countries and eight per cent in Saudi Arabia.

The authority has comprehensive plans to overcome these challenges. In traffic safety, we have a comprehensive programme that aims to reduce road deaths gradually to reach approximately five deaths per 100,000 residents by 2020.

With regard to protecting the environment from carbon emissions, we have a plan to implement Euro IV [emission standards] for cars and enforce the implementation of environmental criteria in all new buses.

On traffic congestion, the authority's plan includes the construction of 500km of new roads, and 120 multilayer interchanges at a cost of Dh44 billion by 2020, as well as expanding the implementation of smart traffic systems. We also plan to issue new policies and regulations that limit the increase in the number of vehicles such as designating bus lanes, special pedestrian and motorbike areas, as well as toll gate systems. We also plan to propose rules and regulations with regard to the registration of vehicles and the issuance of driving licences.

The plan aims to develop the public transportation system and increase the percentage of the number of passengers using it to 30 per cent. This will be done through a major expansion in public transport systems, which include the construction of 380km of railways, and 270km of tram tracks. The first 75km of the metro project have been constructed. As for the tram system, work is going on at Al Sufooh, which is about 14km and includes 19 stations. It is expected to be operational by April 2011.

The general plan for buses till 2020 includes the increase of the fleet to 3,000 which will be operational on a total of 3,000km. It is expected to transport 4.5 million passengers per day. Plans also include the setting up of 1,000 air-conditioned bus shelters as well as the launching of awareness initiatives that encourages use of public transport.

Salik is the talk of the town since it started. In your opinion, how does this contribute to reducing traffic congestion. How much does Salik help in reducing traffic and what are the future plans for this?

Salik is part of a comprehensive system that the RTA has implemented to solve bottlenecks, and it is considered to be one of the leading projects in the region and the world as per a number of traffic experts. It was implemented after carrying out specialised studies. The system has helped to reduce congestion on the areas it has been implemented in by 25 per cent, whereas the trip time on Shaikh Zayed Road has come down by 50 per cent and average speed of vehicles has doubled from 40 to 80 kilometres per hour. Salik subscribers now number one million, a clear indication of the benefit for those who are using the toll gate areas.

How does the authority finance its projects?

The Dubai government has taken the responsibility to finance all the authority's projects, where it allocates a huge budget to finance the execution of the projects that have been adopted by the authority's strategic plan.

Has the authority found any solution for the traffic congestion between Dubai and Sharjah?

There is continuous coordination with the concerned bodies in Sharjah, and due to the construction expansion in both emirates, so it is natural to have entrances to both cities congested. But there are solutions that will be discussed with the authorities in Sharjah to improve the flow of the traffic and concentrate on public transport as well as create awareness among motorists to use external roads such as Emirates road and Dubai Bypass Road, which are alternative roads for those wishing to go to Jebel Ali and Abu Dhabi without having to enter central Dubai.

Commuting between old and new Dubai is difficult. Are there plans to connect the two areas?

The authority's plan is to provide a comprehensive transport system and new accesses to roads. With regards to roads, we have upgraded a number of accesses such as Ras Al Khor, which provides a free flow of traffic that enters from Beirut Road into the Airport Tunnel in the north through the Business Bay crossing and end at the first interchange on Shaikh Zayed Road in the south, a 14-kilometre distance. Along with this, we have the parallel roads project, which is considered to be one of the biggest projects to be carried out by the RTA. This will start from the north of Shaikh Zayed Road and will end at the entrance of Abu Dhabi, a length of 108km.

There are also plans to develop and expand Al Khail Road and transform roundabouts to interchanges, which will provide a free flow in all directions. With regard to transportation, the RTA is encouraging the use of public transport, such as buses which have regular trips to all areas of the emirate, by providing luxurious and comfortable buses.

As for marine transport, there has been a qualitative move in the development and modernisation in the last period, which included the modernisation of abras [water taxis].

We have started to test gas-operated abras. We have also started operating waterbuses and the Dubai ferry, which will serve as comfortable transportation between the different islands and projects.

Service: Three years of hard work

Since its inception, the RTA has been keen to uplift the performance level and keep pace with the successive developments in various fields and uphold its ability to embrace advanced administrative concepts. It set sights on serving customers, developing resources, simplifying procedures, promoting creative spirits, unleashing employee skills and achieving government excellence.

The RTA has managed to complete several achievements and projects, which are paying dividends. It has worked out solutions for the challenges confronting the transportation system in the Dubai, such as traffic congestion, which costs the emirate around Dh4.6 billion per annum as a result of time wasted in tailbacks.

Challenges include traffic safety where mortality rate in the emirate is as high as 17 cases per 100 of population, compared to five to sox cases in countries such as the UK and Sweden, causing an economic loss of about Dh800 million per annum.

They also include the limited use of mass transit modes, the contribution of which does not exceed six per cent whereas this percentage ranges from 40 to 80 per cent in advanced countries. RTA has also got to address the fast-growing property and economic needs of the emirate of Dubai. Annual increase in traffic volume is 13 per cent compared to two to three per cent in European cities.

Dubai's population is growing at six per cent per annum, whereas this does not exceed two per cent in most European countries. The increase in the number of registered vehicles in Dubai is 17 per cent where this ratio is four per cent in European cities and eight per cent in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

- Staff Report

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