Dubai: Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has launched a Seasonal Network plan aimed at developing and improving soft and agile seasonal network patterns for marine transport services. It responds to the operational nature and the extensive operational variables and the demand for marine transport services. In particular, it covers the seasonality patterns of the service during summer, winter, Ramadan, Eid holidays and other public events in Dubai.
“We had activated the summer plan of marine transport networks as of 19 May, having benefited from the huge data related to the operation of the services in summer. Elements include the number of riders, revenues, the achievable operational rates and complete details needed to enrich the service and enhance the network efficiency,” said Mohammed Abubaker Al Hashmi, Director of Marine Transport, Public Transport Agency, RTA.
“The use of big data offered us additional flexibility in planning and implementing the Seasonal Network of Marine Transport initiative. It enables more efficient and accurate operation of these modes as per the plans and detailed schedules developed by RTA in this regard in line with the top global practices.
“The methodology of the project used the predictive analysis method in analysing the marine transport data by anticipating the impact of changes, flexibility in operational times, trip frequency, number of riders, operational and revenue rates, and ridership. It also included developing internal algorithms, analysing and processing big data from multiple sources, and developing a flexible operating plan that can be used to analyse the future data of the sector,” he added.
Commenting on the project results, Al Hashmi added: “We had been able to develop a flexible seasonal network for marine transport services characterised by corporate agility, adaptability to the nature of the operating season, multiple operational variables, and the demand for the services, such that each season will have its specific operational plan. The plan took into consideration certain criteria to avoid impacting the number of riders, contribute to improving occupancy rates, and reduce the operational expenses of marine transport means.”
