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Public transport becoming ideal choice

By 2030, the RTA’s goals will most likely be met, and one third of the population will be using public transport.

Already this year in just the first half, there have been 165 million trips on metros, buses, marine transport and taxi cabs, following the trend of a jump from six per cent of the population using public transport in 2009 to 12 per cent last year.

Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of RTA said marine transit modes (abras, water bus, water taxi, Dubai ferry) alone served a combined 6,823,183 passenger trips during the first half of this year.

“The RTA has made every effort to revamp the public transport means to make them the ideal mobility choice of people in the Emirate.

“This drive also echoes one of the strategic objectives of the RTA vis-a-vis reducing the use of private vehicles and increasing the use of public transit means from 6 per cent in 2009 to 30 per cent in 2030, and this rate has almost hit 12 per cent in 2012,” he said.

Al Tayer said he was delighted with the sustained and constant annual growth of public transport riders which proved that investments injected by the Dubai Government to uplift infrastructure of the transport sector were both successful and effective.

“Residents and visitors of the Emirate do grasp the benefits and advantages of using public transport means including the psychological and physical relief of riders, reducing traffic accidents, cutting expenses on fuel and maintenance of private vehicles, and avoiding the hassles of finding parking space, which is becoming a challenge facing most advanced cities worldwide.”- news@khaleejtimes.com