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Dubai taxis to accept Nol cards

The Roads and Traffic Authority’s Nol cards will be accepted for Dubai Taxi fares starting next year, Essa Abdul Rahman Al Dosari, CEO of the RTA Public Transport Agency, said during the Interferry 37th Annual Conference.

“This strategy will make it easier to handle many public transportation methods at once. People will be able to use the Metro, buses, all water transport services and taxis with the Nol cards by the beginning of next year,” he said.

He mentioned that the authority will be working on new projects to counter traffic issues.

“Throughout the years, the Dubai Government used to lose around Dh4 billion annually, because of delays caused by traffic problems,” Al Dossari said.

“The government decided to improve and spend around Dh75 billion on infrastructure development projects, and we had recently been voted second in excellent management of roads worldwide.”

The RTA will be working on major projects in the next couple of years to increase growth share from 10 to 20 per cent by 2020.

“These projects will include widening the roads in some areas to smoothen traffic, increase the number of Creek lines to 100, and start using environment-friendly engines,” he added.

“Special bus lanes will be created, which are believed to be the best way to travel during traffic jams, and the authority is discussing issues to review the car registration price.”

The authority has also prepared strategies to develop the advertising sector to increase revenues. “The RTA made more than Dh82 million last year from the advertisements on buses, stations and taxis,” he said.

Nasser Abu Shehab, Director of Strategic Planning, said that the RTA will be launching an electric abra in the near future.

This type of abra is being used in Global Village now after getting approval.

Interferry conference

The Interferry 37^th Annual Conference will also discuss transportation systems and technologies related to the revenue collection process of marine transport means and the integration with various transport systems such as buses, and trains in the neighborhood.

It will also look into the investment potentials in the field of marine transport and how to uplift the marine transport in developing countries.

The conference hosted around 30 global firms and organisations specialised in manufacturing and operating mass marine transit modes.

ahmedjamal@khaleejtimes.com