Dubai: Metro timings during the month of Ramadan will remain the same but operation hours for car parking, other public transport modes and customer service centres will change, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced on Tuesday.

Though the trains will continue to run as usual on weekdays as well as weekends, the evening peak hours have been changed which will be from 8pm to 11pm, when the train frequency will be higher, catering to additional demand.

“The Metro timings have already been extended since last year both for weekdays and weekends, so there won’t be any changes for Ramadan. There will be changes to evening peak hours according to the peak demand,” said Ramadan Abdullah, Director of Metro Operations at RTA’s Rail Agency.

During the evening peak hours there will be a train every 4 minutes on the Red Line and every six minutes on the Green Line.

As is customary during Ramadan, the timings of parking, customer service centres, public buses as well as marine transport services, driving institutes and vehicle testing and registration centres have also been changed for the greater convenience of people.

“Modifying the service delivery timing aims to uplift the quality of various services offered by RTA agencies to the public in keeping with the daily routines during the holy month, which vary from the working days observed during the rest of the year,” said Dr Aysha Al Busmait, Director of RTA Marketing & Corporate Communication.

RTA’s Customers Service Centres will working at different times from Sunday to Thursday. Centres at Umm Al Ramoul, Al Barsha, Deira and Karama will work from 9am to 2pm, Al Twar and Al Manara centres will work from 9am to 6pm, and Al Aweer centre will work from 9am to 2pm and from 8.30pm to 11.30pm.

Paid parking hours throughout Dubai, except Dubai Media City (DMC) and Dubai Internet City (DIC), will be from 8am to 1pm and 7pm to 12 midnight. The same hours will be applicable for the Deira Fish Market but it will be applicable throughout the week inlcuding off days. However, the parking timing at DMC and DIC is from 8am to 5pm.

Aysha said the public transport services will run uninterrupted with only slight changes in hours or operations.

She said that public buses will run throughout the week, with public transport stations, including the main stations such as Gold Souk, Al Ghubaiba 1 & 2, and subsidiary stations, such as Al Ghuusais, Satwa and Al Quoz, working from 6am to 12 midnight.

The Jebel Ali Station will open from 10am to 10pm while stations offering feeder bus service to the Metro stations such as Al Rashidiya, Mall of the Emirates, Ibn Battuta and Burj Khalifa will open from 7am up to 1am, while Abu Hail and Etisalat stations will be operational from 10am to 10pm.

Inter-city bus stations, including main stations such as Al Ghubaiba, will work throughout the week, whereas the external stations (Meydan, Sabkha, and Ittihad) will be operational from 6am up to 10pm, City Centre and Karama Stations will open from 6am to 10pm whereas Sharjah buses from Bur Dubai will operate 24 hours, while Sharjah buses from Deira as well as all Abu Dhabi buses will operate between 6am and midnight. Buses to Hatta will operate from 5.30am to 9.30pm, while Fujairah and Ajman buses will run between 6am and 10pm.

Changes have also been made to marine transport timing: water bus services which start at 8am are extended till 12 midnight. Water taxi services, which will start at 10am, have also been extended till midnight. Ferry Dubai services will be available from 11am to 10pm on all week days.

The vehicle testing and registration centres will also see a change in working hours. All the centres will remain open from 8am to 3pm and 9pm to 12 midnight throughout the week.