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Bus network upgraded
DUBAI - The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) launched a major new bus route that runs across the heart of Dubai,
- PUBLISHED: Wed 30 Jun 2010, 12:58 AM UPDATED: Thu 18 Jul 2024, 9:44 AM
Cancelled a few unpopular routes and made changes to nearly three dozen popular routes to incorporate more areas, Khaleej Times learnt on Monday.
The changes will come into effect from July 1, 2010.
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The new route, X13, will start from Al Qusais Bus Station passing through Amman Road, Baghdad Road, Cairo Road, Al Khaleej Road and Mina Road, touching several key points of the city including, Metro Taxi Company, Al Nahda (Behind Sahara Centre), Hamriya Port, Deira Fish Market and Al Ghubaiba Bus Station. The route will end at Satwa Bus Station.
Announcing the changes, the acting CEO of RTA's Public Transport Agency (PTA), Mohammed Abu Baker Al Hashemi, said the changes are being made as part of PTA's strategy to improve the efficiency of the public bus network.
“Based on our strategy for 2010 we are making a few changes to bus route networks to remove the duplications and other complexities. We have already made two changes this year and this will be last one for 2010,” he said.
Al Hashemi added that currently the network is complicated and not very user-friendly and as the changes will come into effect it will be a lot easier to travel by bus.
“We have adopted a plan that will make the network as simple as possible. We have cancelled a few low demand routes and merged them with others, improved the frequency on all routes and launched a new major route,” said Al Hashemi , explaining the changes to the bus routes.
Among popular routes that will experience a change include 13A which runs between Gold Souq Bus Station; 13B that plies between Lulu Village and Gold Souq Bus Station; as well as X23 that operates between International City and Gold Souq Bus Station will be divided in two parts to shorten the journey time.
Another major change would be seen on route 27, which will now connect Burj Khalifa directly with CBD areas in Deira, while route 63E would be connecting two industrial hubs of the city - Al Quoz and Al Qusais - helping labourers commute easily.
Apart from these, several other routes have also been tweaked, which includes a majority of feeder services that operate in residential areas, two interstate routes and dozens of city routes.
The changes in routes include extension and reduction in distance, increasing the number of stops, merger of different routes, improving the frequency as well as cancellation.
Two interstate routes to Sharjah, E302 and E304, have been merged into one and will be called E304. The buses plying on this route will now pass through Al Karama.
Al Hashemi said that punctuality rate of PTA's buses have improved from 17 per cent in January 2010 to the current 61.8 per cent and the Agency is targeting 75 per cent punctuality rate by adding more buses and increasing the frequency of buses.
“Frequency would be improved from the current 20 minutes to 10-15 minutes on all the routes and this along with mergers and other tweaking will improve the overall efficiency of the services,” Al Hashemi hoped.
The routes that will be affected are: 4, 7, 10, 13, 13A, 13B, 22, 27, 31, 42, 44, 47, 48, 61, 61D, 63E, 66, 67, 365, C14, C18, C26 and X23 as well as feeder routes F15, F25A, F46, F3, F4, F5, F10, F11, F29, F30, F31 and F33. Routes 11M, 13X and X25 would be cancelled and alternative arrangements have been made for the users of these routes.
Al Hashemi urged public transport users to go through RTA website to have more details about the changes.
shafaat@khaleejtimes.com