Commuters welcome plans for more buses

Commuters hope the new plans will mean shorter waiting times at bus stops. Jaime Puebla / The National

DUBAI // More feeder buses, new routes and better coordination with Dubai Metro timings will be in place soon, as per new plans by Dubai’s transport agency.

The Roads and Transport Authority said it would roll out the changes to accommodate the increasing number of commuters on some of its busy routes. Feeder buses help to connect passengers from the metro stations with neighbourhoods in the vicinity.

“Some changes are planned after the holy month of Ramadan that includes increasing the capacity on route F43, that operates to Discovery Gardens, F22 and introducing route F21, that will connect Stadium metro station to Al Nahda 1 development,” said Essa Abdulrahman Al Hashemi, director of planning and business development with the Public Transport Agency.

“There are more trips planned during the mid day on route F29, connecting Mall of the Emirates with Motor City and the International Media Production Zone. There is also a plan to enhance the level of service on routes F11, F25 and F15, that operate in both the Trade Centre area and Al Quoz area.”

He did not elaborate on the enhancements.

RTA said it also planned to operate bus number F54, which connects passengers commuting inside the Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), on Friday mornings.

“It will integrate with route 91 to provide Jafza development with bus service operating to the CBD area such as route 91 and 91A,” said Mr Al Hashemi.

He said all the feeder buses in Dubai would be better integrated to coincide with the Dubai Metro’s timings.

Commuters welcomed the move but said more changes were needed.

“More buses would mean better connectivity,” said Pulkit Jangit, who works for a local bank and rides on the Metro frequently.

“It is especially good for those who have office jobs. If the frequency is increased and if there is better connectivity, I will also use them,” said Mr Jangit, who rarely uses the feeder buses because of the time spent waiting for them.

“It would be good if the buses came faster because we have to wait a very long time in the hot sun,” said Angela, a domestic worker who preferred to give only her first name.

“It would also be better if the Metro started early on Fridays because 1pm is very late for us. Many of us have Fridays off and have to wait until afternoon to take the Metro.”

Officials said they were looking at upgrading services.

“The Dubai Metro has been running for five years and the RTA continues to make improvements to the network and the way that it is run,” said Abdullah Yousef Al Ali, acting chief executive of the RTA’s Rail Agency.

“Sometimes it seems slow to make these changes but they are all considered over time and introduced gradually and the Metro is definitely one of the best run in the world today.”

According to Mr Al Ali, there are more than seven times the number of daily commuters using the service today compard with when it launched in September 2009.

“The number of average daily passengers has increased from 60,000 passengers per day in 2009 to more than 450,000 passengers per day in 2014.”

He said the number of train users was expected to rise even further.

“We do carefully study the plans to deal with increase in demand. We have spare trains in case we see increase in demand plus we change the headway to bring more timetabled trains in service.”

On average, there are 51 trains on the Red Line and 14 trains on the Green Line. During peak hours, there is a train every three minutes.