DUBAI // A million passengers are expected to use the Dubai Metro on News Year’s Eve this year, a railway summit was told.
Hassan Al Mutawa, deputy director of rail operations at the Roads and Transport Authority Rail Agency, said the number of people using the system had risen significantly.
“The number of passengers has been increasing since the Metro’s launch [in 2009] and we expect that trend to continue,” he said.
“Some days we have huge increases. For example, last New Year’s Eve we had about 750,000 passengers and we can see a potential for one million passengers for this year’s event.”
Speaking on the final day of the Mena Rail and Metro Summit at the Conrad Hotel on Wednesday he said so far this year October 2 saw 610,000 people use the service on a single say.
On weekdays passenger numbers have sometimes hit more than 530,000 people.
Figures from the RTA show that 137.76 million people used the Metro in 2013, with 119.45 million passengers using the service from January to September this year.
Additional trains would be added to the fleet to help reduce the headway in carriages which is currently exceeding 4 passengers per square metre, Mr Al Mutawa said.
To meet demand the RTA is planning to buy between 25 and 35 new trains by 2020, as well as extend the Red and Green lines.
Part of the plan is to extend the red line to Al Maktoum Airport and the Expo 2020 site, and from Rashidiya to Mirdif City Centre.
Proposals for the green line will see the track extend from Jadaf to International City and Academic City.
“Plans have not been finalised and there are a number of options that are being considered,” he said.
The RTA is also looking at different ways to fund the construction of five towers as part of the Union Oasis project at Union Square Metro Station.
Metro stations will also display art as part of the art museum project in the next few years.
The ongoing work for the Dubai Canal project will not impact the metro’s operations, Mr Al Mutawa said.
Dubai Tram is also expected to begin operation on November 11, with an initial eight trams being used to service 11 stations.
The total number of trams will be increased to 11 and two further stations will be opened.
The trams have a capacity of about 400 people and the RTA estimates 200,000 people will use them each year.
“The key thing we want to do is get more people to use public transport,” said Mr Al Mutawa.
“By 2030, we want 30 per cent of people in the city to use public transport.”
nhanif@thenational.ae
