Dubai to rationalise cars-people ratio

Dubai has a ratio of 571 cars to 1,000 people, compared to Singapore’s 111 cars per 1000 people. In Western cities, the ratio of trips made by walking or using public transportation versus using a car is 4:1, while in Dubai it is almost 50:50, demonstrating that people use their cars for almost every trip or outing.

Abdul Majid Al Khaja, CEO of Rail Agency at the Road and Transport Authority (RTA) provided these figures at a presentation on “Mobility Difficulties in Dubai” at the University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD) recently.

Al Khaja said this situation was being addressed by the RTA by creating an integrated, intelligent transport system involving rail, roads, marine vessels, buses and taxis, to meet the projected population growth over the next decade.

“A number of measures are under way to improve the situation over the next two years. The measures include increasing the number of public buses from the current 650 to 3,000 and commissioning of two (out of the four) routes of the Dubai Metro by September 2009,” Al Khaja said.

“In addition, marine transportation would be expanded by increasing the number of abras and water taxis.”

Al Khaja pointed out that measures like paid parking and the Salik road toll system were aimed at discouraging the use of cars. Source