Metro top choice for public transport in Dubai

Dubai: As many as 296.22 million riders used public, shared transport and taxis in the first half of this year in Dubai, registering a 6.5 per cent growth recorded over the same period last year. The average daily ridership of mass transit means during the first six months of this year amounted to 1.618 million riders.

Mattar Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), said: “March was the busiest month during the first half of the year, attracting 53.198 million riders of public transport means. The breakdown of ridership in March was as follows: 18.1 million riders for Dubai Metro, 15.7 million riders for taxis, 14.3 million riders for public buses, 3.2 million for shared transport (e-Hail and Smart Car Rental), 1.3 million riders for marine transit modes and 555,000 riders for the tram service.”

“January was the second-busiest month recording 51.668 million riders and the monthly average number of riders during the remaining four months ranged between 50 to 45 million riders,” he added.

“Dubai Metro has accounted for the highest number of public and shared transport users amounting to 34 per cent, followed by taxis (30 per cent) and public buses (27 per cent). Dubai Metro Red and Green Lines have lifted 101.68 million riders during the first half of this year (66.14 million riders for the Red Line and 35.54 million riders for the Green Line),” revealed Al Tayer.

Busiest stations

“The two interchange stations of the Metro Red and Green lines (Burjuman and Union) received the largest number of riders. Burjuman Station served 6.348 million riders while the Union Station received 5.359 million riders.

“On the Red Line, Al Rigga Station was the most populous station as the number of users reached 4.813 million users. Next came Dubai Multi Commodities Centre Station, which served 4.573 million riders, ahead of Burj Khalifa-Dubai Mall Station (3.904 million riders), followed by Mall of the Emirates Station (3.725 million riders).

“On the Green Line, Al Fahidi Station topped the list by serving 3.910 million riders, followed by Baniyas Station (3.249 million riders) and Stadium station (2.904 million riders),” Al Tayer said.

Other Modes

During the first half of 2019, Dubai Tram served 3.169 million riders, public buses 79.268 million riders, marine transport means (abra, ferry, water bus, water taxi) ferried 7.2 million riders, shared transport means (e-Hail and Smart Car Rental) served 17.74 million riders and taxis (Dubai Taxi, Hala Taxi and Franchise Taxis) served 87.813 million riders.

Al Tayer said: “RTA’s integrated public transport network has become the backbone of people movement [mass transit]. It has coasted an evolution in public culture towards the use of mass transport. People started to grasp the benefits of using public transport such as peace of mind, physical relief, higher safety and lower expenses on cars. The figures achieved confirm this concept as the ratio of trips using public and shared transport has almost tripled from six per cent in 2006 to 17.5 per cent in 2018 with a compound annual growth of about 9.3 per cent per annum,” he explained.

“RTA’s strategic and executive plans are focused on offering integrated and smooth transit solutions in the emirate. Accordingly, RTA worked on widening the reach of public transport network, developing first and last-mile solutions, providing pedestrian and cyclists facilities and using technology to optimise the efficiency of public transport systems. It has also introduced policies to limit people’s semi-total reliance on private vehicles by offering other transit means (public and shared transport), especially in Dubai where the vehicle ownership rate exceeds one vehicle per two persons.