Dubai
As a resident of Dubai’s International City, my friends and I are grateful for the bus services offered by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) to and from the area. But, there are some issues that they could address and come up with some solutions, which will help commuters to some extent.
There are several bus stops in this area, serving routes between International City and several other areas in Dubai. Most of these bus stops are crowded, especially in the mornings, as a significant number of residents are utilising these routes. However, none of these stops have covered shelters, the lack of which compels the passengers to stand in the open area for the buses.
Standing at these bus stops becomes unbearable in the summer. Those residents who don’t own vehicles have no option but to access the buses for their daily commute. A lot of students live in International City and a lot of them use the bus service on a daily basis because of the close proximity of Academic City. The number of bus users will gradually increase as more buildings are being readied for accommodation in the area.
Another concern is that no top up machines are installed at any of these bus stops, which would be helpful to the passengers whenever they want to top up their NOL cards. It is difficult for users when they don’t have any balance on their cards. They have to resort to other alternatives, like depending on friends or finding a taxi.
Installation of bus shelters and top up machines are necessary at some of the main stops in the area, if not all. I hope the RTA looks into this issue and works on a solution as soon as possible as this will surely help the passengers a lot.
— The reader is a sales coordinator based in Dubai.
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The reader’s concerns were raised with the management of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). They stated: “RTA has developed a plan to expand the number of bus shelters in Dubai, including the high-rider areas such as International City. This plan has been shared with the International City developer. This is currently work in progress where such areas will be provided with shelters within a short period.”
Regarding the issue of top up machines, the RTA previously stated: “We do have plans to install ticket vending machines (TVM) yearly based on our studies, however with more than 2,000 bus stops in Dubai it does not become feasible to install TVMs at all the stops, and hence the RTA has established many smart services to solve this:
1. Online top up, rather than visiting a TVM to top up the card where the customer can reload the card online.
2. Smart NOL by phone, through which the customer can use his or her phone to check in and check out from the bus and the credit will be deducted through network provider - du or etisalat.
3. Auto top up, customer can link his or her NOL card with a credit card and set a limit.
