Fast travel times are crucial for Dubai commuters to switch from cars to buses

Transport experts outline measures to encourage more people to take public transport as emirate invests Dh1.1bn in strategy to take cars off the road

Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority is introducing 636 new buses to its fleet. Photo: RTA

If more people are going to opt for public transport in Dubai, authorities need to offer a service that is as convenient and quick as driving their own cars, experts have told The National.

Buses need to be as fast as any alternatives if commuter habits are going to change in a region where road networks were predominantly designed for private cars, they added.

Their comments follow the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announcing plans to introduce 636 more buses to its public transport fleet in Dubai under a Dh1.1 billion strategy designed to take cars off the road and boost the environment.

The emirate aims to ensure that by the end of the decade, 25 per cent of journeys are taken by public transport. The current proportion is 16 per cent, according to the Deloitte City Mobility Index 2020.

Dr Alexandra Gomes, a research fellow at the London School of Economics who has studied transport in Gulf cities, said it is “crucial” that any increase in the proportion of journeys taken by public transport is linked to a reduction in car use.

The main challenge in the Gulf region, where roads were often primarily designed for cars rather than other forms of transport, she said, was to “change the behaviour of those who predominantly drive” and encourage them to take the bus.

“To achieve this, buses must compete with cars in terms of reliability, frequency, speed (with dedicated lanes), safety, and comfort,” she said.

Fleet-footed

Of the new additions to the fleet, 450 will be city service buses with low floors to improve access for disabled people, and child seating. There will also be 76 double-deckers and 70 articulated buses for high-density areas and new districts.

Dr Kari Edison Watkins, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Davis, echoed Dr Gomes. She said that “transit has to be as fast as any alternative”, which means that transit vehicles should have priority and a fully dedicated right of way.

Dr Kari Edison Watkins, of the University of California, Davis, said public transport needs to have priority on roads to encourage commuters to switch from cars. Photo: Dr Kari Edison Watkins

“It takes time to make stops to let passengers on and off, so that time has to be made up by having a faster travel time than competing traffic,” she said.

“This priority is how you achieve a speedy and reliable transit service. People with any choice in how they travel need that as a basis.”

Also important, Dr Gomes said, is how the buses interact with the city. This could involve rethinking and potentially increasing the number of bus stops and considering their relationship to where people live and points of interest.

“Enhancing the walking infrastructure and ensuring that bus stops are comfortable and safely accessible are crucial steps in the process,” she said.

“It is also important to examine the integration of different modes of transportation and their interconnections. For example, how does the metro link to the bus network, and do the timetables and frequencies align.”

Changing lanes

Dubai has been increasing the number of designated bus and taxi lanes on its roads in recent years.

In April, it announced extra lanes on the Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, 2nd of December, Al Satwa, Al Nahda, Omar bin Al Khattab and Naif streets in the city.

They are scheduled for completion between 2025 and 2027 and the project will extend Dubai's network of dedicated bus lanes to more than 20km.

While describing the upgrading of bus services as “a good first step”, Prof Charisma Choudhury, of the Institute for Transport Studies and School of Civil Engineering at the University of Leeds in the UK, said experience from other cities indicated that improving public transport alone was not enough to shift people from private vehicles to public transport.

“The most effective way is to adopt a ‘carrot and stick’ approach where there are measures to discourage people from using private vehicles by imposing measures like increasing the fuel cost, imposing parking restrictions and road pricing,” she said.

It is likely that some of the new buses will replace existing vehicles, as transport analysts said that the RTA purchased a large number of vehicles in the mid-2000s and that these were likely to be reaching the end of their operational lives.

Dubai’s investment in buses is part of a wider programme to strengthen the emirate’s public transport system.

Dubai is adding extra bus and taxi lanes across six streets, which are due to be completed by 2027. Photo: Dubai Media Office

Railing towards change

At the end of June, Dubai’s Executive Council announced a huge expansion of Dubai Metro, which opened in 2009.

Currently consisting of 55 stations (plus 11 tram stops), the metro is scheduled to have 96 stations by 2030 and 140 stations by 2040.

Previously announced plans will see the construction of a 14-station, 30km Blue Line, to complement the existing Red Line, which has 35 stations, and the Green Line, which has 20.

Most “truly sustainable cities” aim for at least half of trips to come from non-SOV (single-occupant vehicles), Dr Watkins said, but the proportion that comes from public transport and “active travel” such as cycling or walking will vary. The density of the city, with denser areas often more suitable for public transport, is an important factor.

“Electrification of vehicles helps in the climate footprint, but it does not solve other problems like a reasonable alternative to congested roads and the safety impacts of a SOV-based transportation system. Transit is the way to solve all of these problems and the higher the per cent, the better,” Dr Watkins said.