UAE: Over 621 million riders used Dubai’s public transport, taxis, and shared mobility in 2022
Dubai Metro again proved most popular, carrying 36% of all riders last year
Dubai: The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) today announced that the ridership of public transport means, shared mobility and taxis reached 621.4 million riders in 2022 - an year-on-year increase of 35 per cent.
The transport means comprised of Dubai Metro, Dubai Tram, public buses, marine transport (abra, ferry, water taxi, water bus), shared mobility (e-hail, smart car rentals, bus-on-demand), and taxis (Dubai Taxi and franchise companies’ taxis).
The average daily ridership of public transport, shared mobility and taxis clocked 1.7 million riders in 2022 compared to 1.3 million riders in 2021.
Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA, expressed his delight in the steady growth in the number of public transport riders in 2022. He was also pleased to note that the share of the Metro in Dubai’s public transport ridership had increased by three per cent, while marine transport riders showed a one per cent rise when compared to 2021 levels.
“Dubai Metro acquired the largest percentage of the public transport, shared transport and taxis ridership in 2022, amounting to 36 per cent, up by three per cent from the 2021 level... It is a good indicator of people shifting to public transport modes that serve a growing number of riders,” he said.
Al Tayer added that the share of public buses reached 25 per cent, and marine transport riders grew from two per cent in 2021 to three per cent in 2023.
Meanwhile, shared mobility modes and Dubai Tram maintained their ridership levels, which amounted to five per cent for shared transport, and one per cent for Dubai Tram. March 2022 recorded an all-time high monthly ridership touching 62 million coinciding with the end of Expo 2020, followed by December which saw 57 million riders. Ridership rates in other months ranged from 46 to 56 million.
Public transport and shared mobility means as well as taxis made 129 million trips [105 million for taxis, 18.5 million for shared mobility, 4 million for buses, 936 thousand for marine transport, 450 thousand for Dubai Metro, and 99 thousand trips for Dubai Tram].
October 2022 was the busiest month in terms of the number of trips recording 11.9 million trips, followed by March with 11.8 million trips. The numbers of trips in other months varied from 9.7 million to 11.6 million trips, added Al Tayer.
Busiest metro stations
Figures released by RTA’s Data Statistics and Analysis Section at the Enterprise Command and Control Centre indicated that the number of riders using Dubai Metro’s Red and Green Lines amounted to 225.1 million riders in 2022. Burjuman and Union Stations, which are interchange stations on the Red and Green Lines, accounted for the largest share of public transport riders of Dubai Metro in 2022. Burjuman Station served 13 million riders on both the Red and Green Lines, whereas the Union Station was used by 10.8 million riders.
On the Red Line, Al Rigga Station attracted the highest number of riders reaching 9.9 million, followed by Mall of the Emirates Station (9.6 million), Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall Station (8.8 million) and the Business Bay Station (8.5 million).
On the Green Line, Sharaf DG ranked first in terms of riders recording 7.7 million ahead of Baniyas Station (7.3 million) followed by the Stadium Station (5.6 million), Salah Al Din Station (5.3 million), and Al Ghubaiba Station (4.9 million).
Other riders
The breakdown of other means of public transport commuters in Dubai last year was as follows: Dubai Tram (7.5 million), public buses (157.3 million), marine transport encompassing abras, water bus, water taxi, and Dubai Ferry (16 million), shared mobility comprising e-hail, smart car rental, and Bus-On-Demand (32.5 million), and taxis including Dubai Taxi and Franchise companies served a staggering 183 million passengers.