Al Ain: Public bus services will be launched in Al Ain next month before Ramadan with four bus routes with subsequent addition by year end said officials.

Fares will be kept between Dh1 and Dh10, depending on the length of the trips.

Trips between the suburbs and the town centre will cost a maximum of Dh5.

The white and orange painted buses are manufactured by Mercedes and feature low floors and automatic doors to make them accessible for pushchairs or wheelchairs.

There will be a bus every 30 minutes during peak hours, and there frequency will gradually increase to 15 minutes in 2010 and to 10 minutes in 2011.

Saeed Al Hameli, general manager of Abu Dhabi Department of Transport said the buses will operate and will link locations such as Tawam Hospital, Al Ain Airport, Hili Park and Bawadi Mall.

He said by 2011 the emirate will operate 17 routes with a total of 350 buses.

The public bus service has been a long demand from Al Ain's residents. According to the Urban Planning Council the population in this ‘garden city' is expected to grow by 21 per in the next five years. The current population is at 374,000.