Dubai: Dedicated lanes for buses and taxis will be opened at the Khalid Bin Waleed Street, one of the busiest roads in Bur Dubai with effect from January 21.
Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) on Saturday said that it has completed the phase III of the ‘Dedicated Bus and Taxi Lanes Project’ at Khalid Bin Al Waleed Street. The lane extends 4.3km from the intersection of Khalid Bin Al Waleed Street and Al Mina Street up to a point just before the intersection of Zabeel Street, and in both directions.
Red colour
The special lanes have been marked by a distinctive red colour. The project works include the construction of pedestrian paths, air-conditioned shelters for bus and taxi riders, street lights, roadside parking and landscaping.
The dedicated lane will be operational on Thursday, January 21. In the lead-up to this date, bus drivers will be using the lanes on a trial until the service is put into formal operation.
By completing the phase III, the total length of dedicated bus and taxi lanes rises to 11.6km spread over seven key streets namely: Al Mankhool, Al Khaleej, Khalid Bin Al Waleed, Al Ghubaiba, Naif, Al Ittihad and Al Mina Streets.
“Building dedicated bus and taxi lanes is a successful global practice that encourages people to ride public transport means rather than private vehicles. It is a common practice in several metropolitan cities in North America and Europe,” said Mattar Mohammed Al Tayer, Director-General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority.
He said the project aims to increase the percentage of compliance with the on-time departures, encourage the public to use mass transport, improve the taxi arrival time, and reduce the direct and indirect operational costs as well as the pollutant emissions. The project will also contribute to realising the strategic goal of Integrated Dubai, improve the living standards and enhance the happiness of public transport riders.
40 buse routes
“The completion of the phase III of the project culminates the huge successes of the initial two phases of the project that saved about 5 minutes in the journey of each bus, which improved the bus journey times by 24%. It also improved the satisfaction of bus and taxi riders. Currently, 40 bus routes use dedicated lanes including 19 routes that use Khalid Bin Al Waleed Street,” said Al Tayer.
Dedicate lanes across Dubai
Earlier, RTA completed the construction of dedicated bus lanes stretching 7.3km that include parts of Naif Street (1km), parts of Al Ittihad Road (500m), Al Mina Street (1700m from Kuwait Street to the Falcon intersection), Al Mankhool Street (1800m from Al Satwa R/A to Sheikh Rashid Street), Al Khaleej Street (1700m 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).
