One year on, Abu Dhabi motorists find Darb tolls 'reasonable and easy'

Abu Dhabi: It has been a year since the Darb toll gates became operational in Abu Dhabi. Tolls at the gates are effective for four hours every day.

Since the introduction of the toll gates, residents have adopted alternative driving behaviours that best suit their budgets, with some choosing to visit destinations closer to their homes during the traffic peak hours, when tolls are charged. Others added that the overall effect on their expenses in the first year of Darb operations has been quite manageable and that there are likely to be real long-term benefits from the revenue generated by the tolls.

There are currently four Darb toll gates in Abu Dhabi, one each on the four routes connecting Abu Dhabi island to the mainland. During the morning and evening peak hours, designated as 7am to 9am and 5pm to 7pm every day, each vehicle is charged Dh4 for passing under the gates.

The emirate’s public transport regulator, the Department of Municipalities and Transport’s Integrated Transport Centre (ITC), told Gulf News that a total of 41 million vehicles passed under the toll gates during the peak hours during 2021. There are currently 1.7 million registered vehicles on the Darb system.

In fact, Abu Dhabi’s Darb system has a daily toll cap of Dh16 per vehicle and there is no toll on Fridays and outside the daily peak hours. Certain categories of vehicles are also exempt from toll charges, including taxis, buses, emergency response vehicles and vehicles owned by people of determination, among others. Finally, there are also monthly caps on each vehicle.

Like many others, Adel Al Hammadi, 42, an Emirati resident, said he too had not had to change his driving behaviour in view of the tolls. “I have to use the Musaffah Bridge or the Sheikh Zayed Bridge for my daily commute, so I rack up about Dh70 in monthly toll charges,” he said.

Al Hammadi added that road tolls are, however, likely to improve road infrastructure in Abu Dhabi. “I don’t know if traffic flow has changed as a result of the tolls, simply because people’s working hours are still the same. But I can see the amount of road works being undertaken to improve the road network in Abu Dhabi. The road tolls collected can only support such projects."

Owners of vehicles registered in Abu Dhabi are automatically entered on to the Darb system and any toll that remains unpaid due to insufficient Darb account balance is charged at the time of renewal of vehicle registration. As a result, owners of vehicles registered in Abu Dhabi do not have to incur any penalty on account of overdue Darb toll. Owners of vehicles registered outside Abu Dhabi, however, must register their vehicles on the Darb system and ensure they have sufficient account balance while passing under a toll gate. Otherwise, fines are imposed.