Bus journey times in some parts of Dubai could be lessened by almost 44%, with officials in the country declaring a plan to expand the emirate’s dedicated taxi and bus lanes.
Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) will be building dedicated bus and taxi lanes extending 37 km between 2023 and 2027.
These lanes will be covering eight main streets: Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah Street, Al Satwa Road, Naif Street, Amman Street, Omar bin Al Khattab Street, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Street, 2nd December Street and Al Nahda Street.
This will make the total length of the dedicated bus and taxi lanes over 48.6km.
The director-general and chairman of the RTA Board of Executive Directors, Mattar Al Tayer, said, “Dedicated bus and taxi lanes are a successful international practice that inspires people to use public transport instead of private vehicles.”
He further stated, “As seen in many urban cities in America and Europe, dedicated bus and taxi lanes decrease journey time, increase compliance with on-time bus departures, motivate the public to use mass transport means, enhance taxi arrival times, and lower the direct and indirect operational costs as well as pollution.”
Dubai officials said that dedicated bus lanes decrease travel time by over 40% in peak hours.
Al Tayer stated that “The introduction of this project is expected to lessen bus journey time by 44% on the 2nd December Street; 39% on the Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah Street and Amman Street; 28% on the Omar bin Al Khattab Street; 27% on Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Street; 25% on Al Nahda Street; and 18% on Al Satwa Road.”
This project is expected to ease increase public transport ridership by 30% by the end of this decade on some streets “and lessen the requirements of additional buses because of the journey time saved.”