Dubai: Dedicated bus and taxi lanes help shorten journey times, Dubai commuters say. And a recent Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) survey indicates commuters would like to see more such lanes around the emirate.

The RTA said survey results revealed 77 per cent of respondents wanted the bus and taxi lane scheme to cover more streets in Dubai, and 75 per cent said the scheme helped shorten their journey time.

A total of 76 per cent of respondents said they believed the scheme would make using public transport more attractive. The scheme debuted in Al Mankhool, Al Khaleej, Khalid Bin Al Waleed and Al Ghubaiba streets in May.

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The RTA's Traffic and Roads Agency CEO Maitha Bin Udai said the scheme had "achieved [a] high satisfaction rating among the public over the last few months; giving an indicator of its ability to attract more community members to use public transport modes and thus serve the ultimate objective of the scheme."

"The scheme also contributes to increasing the traffic capacity of the concerned streets, slashing the journey time and enhancing the integration between various public transport modes, including mass transit systems, which all add to the realisation of the RTA's strategic objective of increasing the share of public transport to 30 per cent by 2020," Maitha said.

Elaborating on the results of the survey, Maitha said: "The project received a welcome sign from public bus drivers as 86.4 per cent of them expressed their satisfaction with the impact of the project in shortening the journey time, 87 per cent said that the scheme would boost public transport ridership, and 88.4 per cent wanted the scheme to be expanded to cover new streets and districts in Dubai, besides those opened last May."

She said awareness campaigns about the scheme would be directed towards all road users, particularly private motorists, as 44 per cent of them said they knew nothing about the dedicated lanes. They also said they were unaware of the Dh600 fine for misusing the lanes. "The RTA has therefore prepared a brochure to be distributed widely to cover the largest possible numbers of community members," Maitha said.

"The brochure includes the objectives of the scheme, the four roads covered under the initial phase, and the enforcement measures coordinated between the RTA and Dubai Police."

Do you agree with these findings? What else can be done to shorten journey times?