Over 150m commuters used public transport in Dubai in 2016

The Public Transport Agency, Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai revealed that its public buses had transported 151.1 passengers last year.

The sector is witnessing a steady growth and increasingly becoming important to the people in their daily commute.

Basel Ibrahim Saad, Director of Buses, RTA’s Public Transport Agency, expressed his delight at the growing numbers of public bus passengers in Dubai.

"Such an increase is indicative of the growing culture of using public transport among the community members, which can be attributed to RTA’s keenness to provide spacious, sound and punctual bus services integrated with other mass transit means such as the metro, tram and marine transit modes," Saad said.

"It also indicates the RTA’s focus on improving transit-related facilities such as metro, tram and water transport stations, and air-conditioned bus shelters across Dubai, including 100 smart shelters offering diverse smart services to the public.

The overall objective of these services and facilities is to ensure customer satisfaction and make them happy.

"RTA is seeking to complement the mass transit network in the emirate to realise the strategic objective of curbing the use of private vehicles and expanding the use of public transport in a bid to make them the ideal choice of the people in Dubai for their transport needs. RTA wants to raise the share of public transit means in people’s mobility in Dubai to as much as 30 percent by 2030. A good public transit network will ensure sustainable transport, given the massive number of vehicles flooding the streets and the harmful gases they emit," Saad added.

He called on the people to use public transport to conserve the environment and protect their health. The RTA has 1,514 buses in its fleet.

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