Dubai’s RTA to launch second phase of Bus On-Demand service this month

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has said that it will launch the second phase of its Bus On-Demand service this September.

The second phase of the service will cover areas including International City, The Greens and Dubai Silicon Oasis.

The RTA said that during the upcoming phase it will deploy smaller buses to navigate narrow streets.

The initial phase which began in February covered areas such as Barsha 1 and Dubai Internet City, coordinated with the operator United Trans, began in February and included five Mercedes Sprinter buses.

From February until September, these buses have fulfilled 84,000 journeys and received an average customer satisfaction rating of 4.7 out of 5.

“The Bus On-Demand service is meant to support the first and last-mile strategy and involves operating on-demand minibuses within specific zones. The service is accessible via the Bus On-Demand App and is operated in districts where the demand for public transport is high,” said Adel Shakeri, director of planning and business development at RTA’s Public Transport Agency.

Shakeri said that the Bus On-Demand service has advantages such as route flexibility, cuts operational costs and rider waiting time, reduces wasted kilometres and curbs the need for the movement of private vehicles within those areas.

“More than 4,000 accounts were opened on the app. During the trial phase of the service, RTA entered the geospatial data of Al Barsha 1 and Dubai Internet City such that residents and riders at those communities can figure out their locations and track the movement of the bus until it reaches them via the app,” added Shakeri.

Recently, the RTA said that it was experimenting with the use of artificial intelligence including machine learning algorithms to help plan bus routes in the emirate.

Read: RTA begins using machine learning in planning bus routes in Dubai

It aims to revamp 158 routes used by 2,158 buses in Dubai.

RTA buses in the emirate cover an estimated 153 million kilometres per annum.