400 new Dubai bus shelters: Free Wi-Fi, Nol card recharging

The Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), chaired by Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors has recently endorsed the award of a contract for starting the construction of Phase II of Air-Conditioned Bus Shelters Project.

The smart air-conditioned shelter offers a wide range of services to bus riders including a free Wi-Fi internet courtesy of Du, Nol card selling and recharging, mobile phone top-ups, payment of bills of government departments, and power-charging of mobile phones.

In addition to the Smart Kiosk, the shelter will display passenger information, offer RTA services as well as interactive and promotional ads, in addition to screens displaying information about RTA services, besides the selling of refreshments and snacks.

The contract, which covers the construction of 400 air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned bus shelters, has been awarded to Right Angle Media Company on the basis of public-private-partnership (Design-Build-Operate-Transfer Model).

The project will be complete by the end of 2017, and will bring the total number of bus shelters to as much as 1295.

Phase II of Air-Conditioned Bus Shelters Project culminates the success of the initial phase of the project, which covered the construction of 895 air-conditioned bus shelters distributed over 656 bus stops.

Surveys probing the views of users showed a significant increase in the satisfaction with these shelters amongst bus riders.

Smart shelters provide free internet

Solar Power

Phase II includes the construction of about 50 smart air-conditioned shelters fitted with free internet service, as well as the Smart Café for selling snacks and refreshments and several smart services.

It also includes the construction of about 150 shelters featuring the new design of solar-powered shelters involving a creative solution for providing shelters in areas where electric power is not available.

These shelters are fitted with solar panels, which will generate electricity enough to power lights of the Bus Stop as well as billboards.

Providing electricity to power air-conditioned shelters in some remote areas was one of the key challenges confronting planners at the initial stage of the project. Shelters will be fabricated of a reinforced polyester-covered aluminum in order to protect the structures from tough elements.

The seats are made of rigorous, low-heat absorption materials for the convenience of users.

The protective solar sheets are made of glazed material distributed on the basis of an engineering and technical model preventing the permeation of as much as possible of sunlight to seated users.

The solar panels are made of high-quality efficient materials to generate and distribute electricity in such a way enabling maximum exposure and concentration of sunlight to convert it into electric power. LED lights will be used to power billboards to economise on the use of electric power.

Smart Shelters

RTA has started the initial phase of transforming 100 air-conditioned shelters into smart shelters in cooperation with Right Angle Company. 50 of these smart shelters will be completed this year and the remaining 50 will be completed next January. Accordingly, the total number of smart shelters will rise by the end of Phase II to 150 shelters.

This initiative is aligned with RTA’s strategic goal of bringing happiness to people and encouraging them to use public transportation. It also involves an improvement of the public transport infrastructure in a creative style to make it similar to metro stations, and a transformation to a smart city. The drive also involves improved passenger information systems, and improved service satisfaction with the services of public transport.

Crescent Shape

The uniquely designed crescent-shaped shelters are manufactured of high quality materials, and using paints resistant to heat, humidity and dust. They will also be fitted with modern air-conditioning systems and eight seats custom-made to give added convenience to users. The shelter, which can accommodate 13 to 16 persons, is also friendly to the use of disabled persons, and will be fitted with screens directly linked with the control room of Public Transport Agency in order to transmit information about journeys and routes available.

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