Abu Dhabi, August 11: The waiting time for buses will be decreased to 10 minutes from 15 minutes on two of the busiest routes in the Capital Route No. 5 and 7 — during Ramadan, according to a senior official at the Department of Transport (DoT).
According to DoT, the operating hours of buses in the capital during Ramadan, which is expected to begin from August 21, will be from 0730-1800hrs during the day and from 1930-0200hrs.
The bus services in Al Ain will operate every 30 minutes from 6pm until 1am.
Route No. 5 starts from New Zayed Port and ends at Marina Mall in the Capital, while Route No. 7 begins from Marina Mall and ends at the Tourist Club area in the city.
Khaled Mattar Al Mansori, Acting Bus Operations Directror at the Department of Transport, in Abu Dhabi, told Khaleej Times, “Though, the frequency for rest of the routes in the city will be 20 minutes during the holy month of Ramadan.”
The number of bus commuters is growing, as of now, in the Abu Dhabi city around 65,000 people use buses every day. In December it was only 50,000.
The DoT aims to achieve a target of 70,000-80,000 commuters every day by the end of the year.
Al Mansori said, “By the end of 2009, there will be a total fleet of 500 buses in Abu Dhabi and by the end of 2010, it would reach to around 860 buses.”
“It has been noticeably easier to catch taxis during peak hours. For example, before the introduction of bus services in Abu Dhabi on Friday evenings the waiting time for taxis was up to two hours. Now, taxis are readily available throughout the day,” he said.
New Services
About the new services, Al Mansori said, “The DoT has planned for another 10 new bus services to be introduced progressively by the end of 2009. Other new bus services will also be launched in the suburban districts of Musaffah, Shahama and Baniyas. In Al Ain, eight new services are planned with additional services connecting to the suburban areas there.”
Regarding the bus shelter he said, “We aim to complete 80 bus shelters by the end of 2009.”
A number of air-conditioned bus shelters already are already operational in the city.
–Agencies