Transport travails: 'Ovens on wheels'

DUBAI Labourers complain there are not enough company transport buses with air conditioning, making their journey to work and back an ordeal in the scorching Dubai summer months.

With temperatures soaring above 40C, they said their requests to install cooling in buses are largely ignored by employers or manpower transport handlers trying to keep costs down. Most buses used for carrying labourers are not pre-fitted with air conditioners, with the main ones being Ashok Leyland and Tata brands from India. It was not immediately clear if air conditioning in buses for labourer transport is required under government rules. A Dubai Municipality official suggested the issue apparently falls under the Ministry of Labour. A comment from the ministry was not immediately available.

An official from RTA (Roads and Transport Authority), which has previously called for school buses to be fitted with air conditioners, said it is not within RTA’s jurisdiction or control that company transport buses must have AC.

Buses with open windows carrying labourers are a common sight on city roads. Some buses have fans but a number of labourers in Sonapur, home to thousands of low-income workers, told XPRESS the fans and open windows only circulate the hot air from outside. Temperatures inside buses can be higher than outside air temperature, which is officially taken from readings in the shade, experts have said. “It’s hotter inside than outside, it’s like we’re in an oven on wheels,” said a Pakistani labourer in his 20s.

“We never stop sweating — we sweat at home, in the bus and at work. I’ve stopped complaining because no one does anything.”

Making the situation worse, the workers added, is the alleged practice of over-seating passengers. “We are packed inside the bus, five people sitting on seats meant for three. Supervisors don’t want to make extra trips to carry just a few left-behind labourers,” a Bangladeshi worker said.

“It’s so stuffy inside, we sweat even more — over each other, on the seats, on the floor. The hot air blasting in through the windows makes you sick. The fans generally don’t work, and when they do, it’s more hot air. There’s no escape from the heat, sweat and body odour.”

The UAE has enforced a midday break rule till September that fines companies making labourers work outdoors in the peak daytime hours. Labourers said a similar rule would force operators to install air conditioning on buses.