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Dubai RTA initiative to make transport affordable

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Photo: Alamy

Photo: Alamy

Dubai - It aims to aid tourists visiting the city too

Published: Sun 27 Dec 2020, 2:34 PM

  • By
  • Nandini Sircar

A recent initiative by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) aims at looking into the first and last mile solutions for any user in the city, by forging partnerships with different players in the private sector.

Called Tarabut — which means connection or integration in English — it is also aimed at making transportation in Dubai affordable for all, while aiding tourists visiting the city too.


With 594 million trips completed in 2019 through its different channels of transportation, the RTA's latest initiative is aimed at enhancing customer experience.

Novel services that facilitate transportation include RTA’s bus-on-demand or community bus service, which has 13 new vehicles at five different locations, and a fleet of Careem bikes and e-scooters.

The initiative is strategically aligned with the UAE’s vision 2021 and will provide customers with innovative solutions to public transportation, as taxis can be relatively more expensive.

Optimising the service information channels and using data through crowdsourcing, RTA is also simplifying multimodal trip planning.

Residents and visitors can get real-time passenger information as the government body integrates with Google Maps and has already installed over 620 Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI) screens across Dubai.

Meanwhile, users can also download the S'hail app for similar purposes.

Commenting on the programme, Adel Mohammed Shakeri, Director Planning and Business Development Public Transport Agency, RTA said, “We are using big data and different algorithms to enhance the network at the backend. We are increasing the different modes of transportation, introducing new technology and developing new bus stations. One of them is Al Ghubaiba bus station. It is fully integrated with other modes of transportation. It is 2 minutes walk between bus and metro and 5 minutes between bus and marine; between marine and metro, it's only 3 minutes. 0 minutes to get a taxi. So, it is fully integrated.”

He added, “I am also happy to share that the UAE has ranked no 1 globally in the Deloitte City Mobility Index in Innovation in Transportation.”



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