RTA records ridership of over 531m in 2014

Dubai - The ridership of Dubai’s public transport reached 531.350 million in 2014, according to the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). In 2013, the authority’s statistics section recorded 440.672 million riders and clocked a ridership of 367 million using RTA’s public transport means comprising the Metro, tram, buses and marine transit modes (abras, ferry, water taxi and water bus) in addition to taxis (Dubai Taxi and franchise companies).

Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of RTA, said the average daily ridership of public transport means in Dubai was recorded at about 1.475 million, which compares well with the average of 1.3 million riders recorded in 2013 and about one million riders in 2012.

“The share of public transport in the mobility of people has jumped from six per cent in 2006 to 14 per cent in 2014 and the RTA is endeavouring to push it to as much as 20 per cent by 2020. People have started to grasp and feel the benefits associated with the use of mass transit means such as the physical comfort, peace of mind, financial saving, high safety, lower expenses of car usage in terms of fuel and maintenance, among others,” he said.

Revealing the authority’s future plans to upgrade roads’ infrastructure as well as the efficiency of public transport system, Al Tayer said there are over 35 mega projects in hand to boost the use of public transport means for the hosting of Expo 2020. These include the extension of the Red Line of the Dubai Metro, upgrading roads and junctions leading to the site of Expo, and procuring new trains to keep up with the sustained growth in the number of Metro users in the lead up to 2020 such that passengers can have better services.

He said the RTA is also planning to broaden the coverage of the bus network to reach 16 new areas, improve services in 19 areas by 2020, and uplift the water transport means, which is anticipated to experience huge growth with the launch of the Dubai Water Canal linking the Business Bay with the Arabian Gulf.

Metro, tram and bus ridership

The Dubai Metro, both the Red and Green Lines, recorded a ridership of 164.3 million compared with 137.759 million in 2013 and 109.491 million in 2012. The number of riders using the Red Line saw a considerable growth compared to 2013 and 2012 with the ridership rising steadily from 71.914 million riders in 2012 to about 89 million riders in 2013 and going up to 104 million riders in 2014.

The ridership of the Green Line rose from 37.576 million in 2012, to 48.873 million in 2013 and continued the upswing in 2014 to hit 60.289 million. Thus the average daily ridership of the Dubai Metro last year exceeded 450 thousand riders and the figure went past the half million mark during holidays.

The Dubai Tram, since its launch on November 11, 2014 till the end of December (50 days), saw a footfall of about 531,000. The public bus ridership last year hit 135.5 million riders compared with 115.67 million riders in 2013 and 107.8 million riders in 2012. The average daily ridership of public buses was 371 thousand riders compared with 321,000 riders in 2013, and 299,000 riders in 2012.

“The total number of public bus-users reached 91.888 million, followed by Metro stations feeder bus service which accounted for 24.432 million riders, inter-city bus service recorded 12.89 million riders and corporate bus rental service served about 5.8 million riders.

“Marine transit means, comprising abras, water bus, water taxi, and Dubai Ferry have lifted about 13.26 million riders last year recording a slight increase from 2013 which was 13.223 million riders. Abras accounted for the largest share of marine transit mode users serving about 12.613 million riders,” he said.

“Taxis in Dubai (Dubai Taxi, Hala Taxi and franchise companies) last year recorded a footfall of 108.875 million in more than 217.751 million trips compared to about 174.018 million riders in 2013, and 137.39 million riders in 2012,” Al Tayer said.

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