Dubai: Journey time in buses and taxis in Dubai is set to shrink with the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) planning to roll out more dedicated lanes. RTA said on Sunday it has endorsed a plan to construct dedicated bus and taxi lanes extending 37km between 2023 and 2027.
These lanes cover eight main streets - Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Street, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah Street, 2nd December Street, Amman Street, Al Satwa Road, Al Nahda Street, Omar bin Al Khattab Street and Naif Street - bringing the total length of dedicated bus and taxi lanes to 48.6km.
Mattar Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA, said: “The dedicated bus and taxi lanes is a successful global practice that encourages people to ride public transport rather than private vehicles. As seen in several metropolitan cities in America and Europe dedicated bus and taxi lanes reduce journey time, increase the compliance with the on-time bus departures, encourage public to use mass transport means, improve the taxi arrival time, and reduce the direct and indirect operational costs as well as pollutions.”
He added: “Widening the scope of dedicated bus lanes increases the average bus speed and reduces the travel time during peak hours by more than 40 per cent. The introduction of this project is expected to reduce bus journey time by 44 per cent on the 2nd December Street, 39 per cent on the Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah Street and Amman Street, 28 per cent on the Omar bin Al-Khattab Street, 27 per cent on Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Street, 25 per cent on Al Nahda Street, and 18 per cent on Al Satwa Road.”
More riders
Al Tayer said the project is expected to contribute to a 30 per cent increase in public transport riders by 2030 on some streets, and reduce the requirements of additional buses due to the journey time saved.
“The implementation of dedicated bus and taxi lanes plan is a huge success based on the past three phases of the project. It saved about five minutes of journey time of each bus, which improved the bus journey times by about 24 per cent. It also improved the satisfaction of bus and taxi riders,” added Al Tayer.
Earlier, RTA completed the construction of dedicated bus lanes stretching 11.6km, which included a separate lane for buses and taxis on Khalid Bin Al Waleed Street extending 4.3km from the intersection with Al Mina Street to a point just before the intersection with Zabeel Street, in both directions.
It also included parts of Naif Street (1km), parts of Al Ittihad Road (500m), Al Mina Street (1700m from Kuwait Street to the Falcon intersection), Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah Street (1.8km from Al Satwa R/A to Sheikh Rashid Street), Al Khaleej Street (1.7km from the Creek Street to Al Musalla Street), Khalid bin Al Waleed Street (100m from Al Mina Street Intersection to Street 16), and Al Ghubaiba Street (500m from Al Mina Street intersection to Street 12).
