New Year: Dubai’s RTA announces free parking, public transport timings

Public parking across Dubai will be free on Friday, January 1, to mark the New Year public holiday, the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced.

There will be no additional free parking on Saturday, January 2 (since Friday parking is free), the authority confirmed.

Charges will continue to apply at multi-level parking terminals on Friday.

Read: UAE confirms January 1 as public holiday for New Year

Meanwhile the RTA also announced that service provider centres will close at 4.30pm on Thursday, December 31 and resume normal operations on Saturday January 2, 2021.

Customer happiness centres will close from December 31- January 2 and reopen on Sunday, January 3. The smart customer happiness centres at Umm Al Ramool, Deira, Al-Barsha, Al Manara and the RTA head office will continue operations 24/7 hours as usual.

Dubai Metro, Tram

The Red line will operate continuously from 5am on Thursday, December 31 until 1am on Saturday, January 2.

Meanwhile the Green line will operate from 5.30am on December 31 until 1am on January 2.

The Dubai Tram will also run from 6am on December 31 until 1am on January 2.

Public buses

Main stations (including Gold Souq station) will operate from 5.32am to 12.59am (past midnight) on January 1, while Al-Ghubaiba station will operate from 4.43am to 12.29am (past midnight).

Sub-stations (including Satwa station) will open at 5.04am to 11.29pm except for Route C01 which will operate around-the-clock.

On Friday, Al-Qusais station will be open from 5am until 12.08am (past midnight), Al Quoz Industrial station from 5.30am to 11.35pm, and Jebel Ali station from 5.40am to 12.51am (past midnight).

The Metro link bus service at Rashidiya, Mall of the Emirates, Ibn Battuta, Dubai Mall/Burj Khalifa, Abu Hail, and Etisalat will be in service from 5am on Friday until 1.10am on Saturday, with the timing of all Metro link services synchronised with the metro timetables.

The inter-city bus and commercial coaches will operate as follows on Friday: Subsidiary stations, such as the Union Square, from 5am to 11.55pm, Etisalat Metro station from 10am to 9.51pm, and Abu Hail Metro station from 11.40am to 10.47pm.

The timing of external stations will be as follows: Jubail at Sharjah from 5.30am to 11.55pm, Hatta from 6.29am to 10.41pm, and Ajman from 6am to 11.30pm.

Marine services

The Water Bus will operate at Marina stations (Marina Mall, Marina Walk, Marina Terrace, Marina Promenade) from 10am up to 8pm on Thursday. On Friday, it will run from the same stations from 12pm (midday) to 12am (midnight).

The traditional abra will operate on Thursday as follows: Dubai Old Souq – Baniyas from 7am to 8pm, Dubai Old Souq-Al Fahidi- Al Sabkha from 8am to 8pm, Al Seef-Baniyas stations from 7am to 8pm and Jadaf-Dubai Festival Mall from 7am to 8pm.

The electric abra will operate at the Global Village from 4pm to 11pm on Thursday.

On Friday, the traditional abra timinigs will be: Dubai Old Souq – Baniyas from 10am to 1am (Saturday), Deira Old Souq -Al Fahidi-Al Sabkha from 10am to 12am (midnight) and Al Seef-Baniyas from 10am to 1am (Saturday). Sheikh Zayed Road station and Dubai Creek stations (both directions) will run from 4pm to 11pm, and Jadaf- Dubai Festival Mall from 10am to 12am (midnight).

The electric abra will operate at Burj Khalifa from 6pm to 11pm and at the Global Village from 4pm to 11pm on Friday.

The ferry will run on Thursday between Al Ghubaiba-Dubai Water Canal-Dubai Marina Mall at 11am and 1pm. On Friday, the same stations will operate from 1pm to 6.30pm, whereas Dubai Marina Mall and Al Ghubaiba stations will operate in both directions from 3pm to 5pm.