• Home
• /
• UAE

RAK bus service to start from April

After being delayed for nearly two years, the first local bus services in Ras Al Khaimah will finally be launched in April to ease transport problems in the emirate.

The launch has been announced by the Ras Al Khaimah Transport Authority (RAK-TA) after overcoming some obstacles including the installation of bus stop signs on most of the emirate’s roads which partly delayed the start of the bus services.

Jason Farhat, acting general manager of RAK-TA and the director of Commercial and Investment Affairs at the authority, said that this time, the internal bus services will start since the Department of Public Works and Services and the RAK Municipality have completed installing bus stop signs along the planned routes.

He noted that they will start with one route at the beginning of April. The second route will be opened after a month.

“The first route will be between the Al Nakheel and Sha’am village. It will have 17 stops, to and from, and the distance will be covered in 80 minutes,” said Farhat.

The second route going to the industrial areas will start from Jazeera Al Hamra via the RAK Industrial Area Park to the Al Ghail Industrial Area. “We established this route taking into consideration the requirement of the labourers working and staying in the area,” he added.

According to Farhat, the third route, to be launched in July, will start from Al Nakheel and go via the airport road, Digdag and Khatt and turn south to Al Tawain and Adhen on the Fujairah-RAK border.

The service would begin with four 14-seater minibuses for the first route. The buses will run every hour and tickets would be charged at Dh7 initially. Farhat said they decided to make the bus fare as low as possible so that all sections of people can afford.

“We have taken into consideration the plight of low-income earners, especially labourers, who have been digging deep into their pockets to pay for taxis which have been the only mode of 
public transport in the emirate,” said the official. According to Farhat, bus service was scheduled to start earlier but was delayed due to the delay in installing bus stop signs and repairing of roads.

“The RAK Municipality in coordination with the Department of public works delayed installing bus stop signs on some roads because many plots near these roads were privately owned. There was need to clear the owners of the plots first before the signs could be installed,” he said.

According to Farhat, the other reasons for the delay of bus services were decrease in mobility of people in RAK during the past two years and authorities’ concern for affecting the taxi business.

After its official launch, the bus service will be the main mode of public transport in Ras Al Khaimah. The service will be extended to other areas gradually according to the demand.

The launch of the bus services will help commuters, especially those from remote areas of the emirate, from the burden of spending more on taxis which has been the only mode of public transport in Ras Al Khaimah.

With the new taxi fares in RAK, a commuter travelling from the northern areas of Al Sha’am to Nakheel which is about 30km, has to spend at least Dh100 for his trip. The starting taxi fare in RAK is Dh3 and the metre ticks with Dh1 for every additional 650 metres.

ismail@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE
• UAE