UAE | Traffic and Transport
Capital plans to double public bus service usage
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.
- By Binsal Abdul Kader, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:27 November 22, 2008
-
Passengers get cameras in bus shelters
Cheese! Abu Dhabi passengers get cameras in bus shelters
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.
Your comments
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
Share this article
Related Articles
More from UAE Traffic and Transport
More from UAE
Popular in UAE
-
Your pictures
Readers' pictures
The best reader pictures from around the UAE this week
Latest news
- Ministry opens hotline to report violators
- First well in relief project to honour scientist
- Help me find my precious cat
- AG expresses confidence in public prosecution's skills
- National ID needed for Interior Ministry services
- Meet to discuss ways to secure energy supplies
- Deyaar case: Expert asked to submit detailed report i
- Institute adopts best judicial practices
- Dubai hospital wins Spain architecture festival award
- Masters in construction law to address sector's concerns
- Private schools form lobby group
- New council to strike demographic balance
- Green moves make desalting plant less damaging
- Technology can negatively affect girls: forum
- Dubai-based British athlete attempts to swim around Palm in record bid
Community Reports
-
Help me find my precious cat
Raif, my cute eight-month-old ‘fur ball', went missing in Abu Dhabi's Al Bateen area last month
-
Pavement parking irks pedestrians
Gulf News reader calls on authorities to step in and stop car owners from invading pathways meant for safe walking
-
Faded parking lines pose a problem
Motorists could be fined for parking incorrectly even though they can hardly see the boundaries in the designated areas
-
School buses block residential parking
Commercial vehicles taking up free parking facilities in Al Wuheida, inconveniencing residents in surrounding villas
