Capital plans to double public bus service usage

Abu Dhabi: Approximately less than 5 per cent of Abu Dhabi city residents are using free public buses introduced recently and it is expected to increase to the targeted 10 per cent as new buses and routes are introduced, a senior official told Gulf News.

"Our surveys revealed that approximate 50,000 people a day are using about 115 buses plying on seven routes in the city", said Saeed Al Hameli, General Manager of Public Bus Office in Abu Dhabi.

He spoke to Gulf News on the sidelines of a press conference yesterday to unveil the prototype of new air-conditioned bus shelters in the city.

Trans AD, the taxi authority in the emirate had earlier told Gulf News that eight out of ten people in the emirate depend on taxis due to lack of other public transport facilities. "It is highest in the world as in most of the cities, only three out of ten people depend on taxis," said Khalid Saleh Al Rashedi, General Manager of Trans AD.

The Department of Transport's present target is to improve the number of bus passengers to ten per cent of the population, said Al Hameli. New targets will be set following the Surface Transport Master Plan (STMP) of an integrated mass transport system in the emirate to be unveiled in 2009, said Al Hameli. About 120 buses will be introduced next month and about 400 new buses next year. Four more routes will be added to the existing seven in January.

The city administrators plan to bring to an end free travel in buses in December once the tariffs are announced.

There is an urgent need for buses that move between Abu Dhabi and its outskirts.
Abdul Aziz
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: November 23, 2008, 14:05

I think one of the main reasons that few people use the bus is because family transport is not made very easy in them.
Sidik
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: November 23, 2008, 11:24