Priority lanes: Right of way

Dubai: An extensive network of bus priority lanes is being planned to help boost public transport use and raise bus punctuality rates, a senior official said.

Mohammad Abu Bakr Al Hashemi, Acting CEO of the Public Transport Agency at the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority said, "These lanes are currently under study. We're evaluating the first phase (of this scheme) to see how it would benefit public transport users."

Private vehicles that stray into these bus-priority lanes could face fines. "Our target (bus punctuality level) is 75 per cent by December 2010," said Al Hashemi.

As of June 2010, the official said the punctuality level of Dubai's buses stood at 61.8 per cent, still below target, but a huge jump from a paltry 17 per cent recorded in January 2009.

Measuring punctuality

Bus punctuality is monitored by PTA's Operations and Control Centre (OCC) which uses a GPS-based tracking tool. The PTA has also teamed up with Google to upload Dubai public bus stops information on online map Google Earth to make it more user-friendly.

Al Hashemi said Dubai looks at Singapore, London and Hong Kong (posting a bus punctuality of 80 per cent or more) as a model to boost the use of public transport system even among Emiratis and tourists. "These cities use various methods such as dedicated bus priority lanes. In Dubai these lanes are still quite limited to a small part of the city - Khalid Bin Al Waleed Road and Mankhool Road. When you have a full bus-priority lane network, even in congested areas, the effect [on punctuality] will be felt more."

Al Hashemi also said that changes in the bus routes will stabilise by August 1, 2010 after analysis of journey data, field surveys and demographic profile of residents in different areas.

Did you know?

Currently about 80 per cent of Dubai's 300,000 daily bus users are Asians. Asian workers also comprise the bulk of Dubai Metro's 130,529 daily riders (as of July 1, 2010).

Buses and Trains