Dubai, August 13: Don’t worry about how you would reach your home or office once you are out of a Dubai Metro station. Feeder buses will be at your service.
As many as 787 buses, dedicated to commute passengers from the different Metro stations to their destinations, will be deployed at all the stations.
In June, the RTA had bought 518 Citea buses at a total cost of Dh1.9 billion to be used as feeder service for commuters of the Dubai Metro, authorities announced on Monday.
These buses have been brought from the Netherlands-based VDL Company and the cost includes an 8-year maintenance contract. Swaidan Trading, a wing of the Al Naboodah Commercial Group, will manage the service for VDL.
Mattar Al Tayer, the Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA, said that the Authority had entered into similar agreements with other companies, details of which would be announced later.
Al Tayer said 787 buses would be delivered in several batches starting July such that the whole lot would be delivered by April 2010.
“The high technological features of these buses will attract a larger number of commuters to use mass transport modes,” said Al Tayer. Of the 518 buses, 300 buses will ply from September along the Red Line and around 150 will operate along the Green Line. The remaining buses will ply along other routes of the emirate, authorities said.
The feeder buses can be identified by the letter ‘F’ followed by the bus number.
Al Tayer also said that all bus drivers have been subjected to extensive training sessions so that they would be able to adapt to the state-of-the-art facilities on the Dubai buses. Commuters who are not interested in using Dubai Metro will be able to take the feeder buses meant for the train service to their workplaces, said Issa Al Dossari.
People using the feeder buses can use the Nol cards, which was announced by the RTA last month as part of the unified fare system for public transport services.
Some commuters had raised queries on the issue stating that they lived near a Metro station but did not require the service as their work places were also near.
Residents living in Sharjah will also benefit from the feeder buses being introduced for potential Dubai Metro users.
“At the moment, there are 700 RTA buses plying to and from Sharjah. Some of these buses will ply passengers to the Al Qusais and the Al Rashidiya Metro stations in Dubai. People can get to these stations and then use the Dubai Metro,” Mohammed Al Hashimi, the Acting CEO of the Public Transport Agency said.
Feeder bus routes
1. From Al Rashidiya Metro Station
Bus number F01: to Nad Al Hammar
Bus number F02: to Rashidiya.
Bus number F03: to Mirdiff West
Bus number F04: to Mirdiff East
Bus number F05: to Al Mizhar
Bus number F10: to Al Warqa
2. From Emirates Metro Station
Bus number F06: to Al Twar-3
Bus number F07: to Al Garhoud
Bus number F08: to Al Twar-2
Bus number F09: to Festival City
3. From Trade Centre Metro Station
Bus number F11: to Emirates Towers-Financial
Center-Satwa Bus stand
4. From Business Bay Metro Station
Bus number F18: to Jumeirah-3 and Umm Sequim 1
Bus number F20: to Al Safa
5. From Burj Dubai Metro Station
Bus number F13: to Dubai Mall
Bus number F16: to Business Bay, Al Wasl and Jumeirah-2
6. From Al Quoz Metro Station
Bus number F15: to Al Quoz residential area
Bus number F25: to Burj Al Arab
Bus number F26: to Al Safa-2
7. From First Gulf Bank Metro Station
Bus number F27: to Umm Al Sheif
Bus number F28: to Umm Suquim-2
8. From Mall of the Emirates Metro Station
Bus number F29: to Al Barsha-2
Bus number F30: to Arabian Ranches
Bus number F31: to Sharaf DJ, The Meadows East
Bus number F33: to Al Barsha-3
9. From Dubai Internet City Metro Station
Bus number F34: to Greens.
10. From Nakheel Metro Station
Bus number F32: to Knowledge Village
Bus number F35: to Emirates Hills.
Bus number F38: to Meadows
11. From Jumeirah Lake Tower Metro Station
Bus number F40: to Marina
12. From Marina Metro Station
Bus number F37: to Dubai Marina
13. From Nakheel Harbour and Tower Metro Station
Bus number F41: to Ibn Battuta Mall, Jumeirah Islands
Bus number F43: to Ibn Battuta Mall, Discovery Gardens
Bus number F44: to Ibn Battuta Mall, Gardens
Bus number F46: to Ibn Battuta Mall, Green Community
Bus number F48: to Ibn Battuta Mall, Dubai Investment Park
Bus number F50: to Ibn Battuta Mall, Jebel Ali Free Zone
Bus number F53: to Ibn Battuta Mall, Dubai Industrial City
14. From Dubal Metro Station
Bus number F51: to DEWA station
15. From Jebel Ali Industrial area Metro Station
Bus number F47: to Jebel Ali Industrial area
16. From Jafza Metro Station
Bus number F54: to Jafza South
Bus number F55: to Jafza South
–Agencies