Public transport expanded to 7 zones

Expanding the zones from five to seven, the outreach of public transport has been extended, while at the same time keeping the fare structures intact.

“We realigned the zones to make it flexible for commuters, but we have kept the price structure same, because we don’t want to put extra burden on people,” said Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA.

However, the realignment of zones has also seen the division of CBD into two separate zones, which means commuters travelling in what earlier was one zone will have to pay more.

Satwa, Karama and Bur Dubai, which used to be part of Zone Five have been carved into a new zone, which means travelling between Bur Dubai and Gold Souq in Deira which was earlier in the same zone and cost Dh1.80, would now cost more as it would now encompass two zones.

Though most zones have remained unaffected by the realignment as Zone One and Two cover exactly the same areas as it did before, zones Three, Four and Five have been altered and reshaped slightly to make way for Zones Six and Seven.

One apparent benefit commuters would have of the realignment is that areas of Muhaisana and Mirdiff which were earlier divided into two zones would now come under one single Zone Four.

“Commuters won’t have to pay the fare for two zones for just crossing the Emirates Road in Muhaisanah, which was the case earlier. We have put the entire area into one zone so that people can use the buses to cross the road and not put their lives in danger by trying to cross the busy highway by foot,” said Al Tayer, explaining the details of the realignment in one of the zones.

The basic fare for travelling on the Metro as well as buses remains the same. A short journey not exceeding three kilometres will continue to cost Dh1.80, while travel within the same zone but exceeding three kilometres would cost Dh2.30. A journey between two zones would continue to cost Dh4.10 and beyond two zones would be Dh5.80.

The new zones would come into effect from Friday, August 12.

shafaat@khaleejtimes.com