A transport network is only as good as the level of comfort and accessibility it provides. At some point, most of us will have been without a car and stuck in some part of a city waiting for a taxi, a bus or a train. And we will have found ourselves wishing we had our own transport because the public options were too slow, too peripatetic, or too uncomfortable. This is where the simple logic of bus shelters and such like comes in.
As The National reported yesterday, commuters in Abu Dhabi are upset about the number of bus shelters with air conditioning units that don’t work and have broken chairs or doors. Worse, they have been this way for some time. We first reported on the maintenance issues at bus shelters many months ago. And some passengers have told us that they noticed problems with the automatic sliding doors at some shelters two years ago.
Having to wait for a bus in the baking 45-degree heat is not going to add to the appeal of taking public transport for all that we are agreed it is the right way to go. Transport infrastructure is the backbone of any great metropolis. Our cities have grown rapidly in a relatively short span of time but we must not forget that it is the small details – such as comfortable bus shelters – that will help reduce car-use.
The problem, however, is relatively easy to fix. Maintenance staff should regularly inspect bus shelters around the capital and make the necessary repairs to keep them cool and inviting. Of course, this will mean that first the Department of Transport and the Department of Municipal Affairs must sort out who is responsible for maintenance.
How to take a car-dependent city and build a viable alternative transit system is hardly a problem that’s unique to us. For some cities, the transport infrastructure has evolved as they grew, over the years.
For others, such as Abu Dhabi, mass transit networks are overlaid on a structure initially designed for the car. Change will take time but it is possible.
