Here is a news transport facilities etc.,” he pointed out. At present, the bus fares of use to bus travellers. You’ll now need to pay Dh2 only, whatever your destination, on all internal bus routes.
The fares on all internal bus routes, barring a few longer routes, has been fixed at Dh2, the Public Transport Agency of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced yesterday. The new public bus fare structure will be effective from July 1.
Essa Al Dossari, the CEO of the Public Transport Agency, said they would soon launch an advertising and marketing campaign to raise awareness about the new unified fare system. He added that the objective of the move was to encourage more people to make use of the public transport buses.
“Barring the fares for very long routes, the fares for all internal routes would be Dh2 from July 1.
Among the long routes, the fare for the DubaiHatta route and vice versa would be Dh7 per trip, the fare for the Gold SouqJebel Ali route and vice versa would be Dh4.50 per trip and the fare for the Al Gubaiba (Bur Dubai)-Jebel Ali route and vice versa would also be Dh4.50 per trip,” Al Dossari said.
According to the official, the move would help reduce traffic congestion.
“An easing of traffic would ultimately result in lesser number of road accidents and lesser environmental pollution. The RTA has been concerned about the growing number of cars in the emirate and has been advising people and organisations to switch over to public transport utilities, car pooling, flexible work timings, office start at Dh1.50 and go up to Dh4.50 for the internal routes in the emirate. For example, the fare from Al Gubaiba bus station to Al Quoz is Dh2.50 at the moment. From July 1, people travelling along this route will pay Dh2 only. The current fare from Al Gubaiba to Jebel Ali is Dh4.50, which remains unchanged.
Meanwhile, the RTA move evoked a mixed response from commuters.
Shivansh Joshi, a sales executive with a bank, said, “This is a good move. I travel everyday to Al Quoz from the Bur Dubai bus stand. From July 1 onwards, I’ll be able to save 50 fils. With the residents reeling under the over 10 per cent inflation, the middle class needs to save every penny.” However, Nisar Ahmad, another bank executive, was not very enthusiastic about the move. “The new fare system has its own disadvantages. We’ll now have to pay Dh2 even for very short routes. Earlier, we were paying Dh1.50 to travel to Deira or Karama from Bur Dubai.” Talking about the public buses, Dossari said the agency would be introducing buses on each and every route in Dubai. In addition, the number of inter-city buses will also be increased.
“The new buses would be in different sizes and shapes with the highest standards of safety and security, and will have the best technologies such as the audio informing system of the next stops, number count system of the bus users, GPS to locate the status of the buses, and also internal and external displays.”