Dubai: Why these car-owning residents use public transport for daily commutes

Many Dubai residents who own vehicles use public transport in Dubai for commuting to work. According to them, public transport in the emirate is “exceptional” as they are able to reach their destinations on-time in a hassle-free way.

Usman Mulla, a freelancer residing in Abu Hail, is one of those who uses public transport instead of driving his car to his workplace. Talking to Khaleej Times, he said taking the metro to work has been much more convenient than driving during peak hours.

“Congestion and parking in commercial areas is a real headache, that is reason I take metro wherever I find it favourable. The metro monthly pass costs Dh130 which is much cheaper than monthly parking permit around my office,” Usman added.

Usman is among hundreds of thousands of residents who depend on the public transport for their daily commute. According to the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), the daily average ridership of public and shared transport and taxis in Dubai clocked 1.68 million in the first six months of 2022.

The figure was released as the RTA celebrated the 13th Public Transport Day earlier this month. The theme for this year’s event was to promote a healthy lifestyle #SpeedUpSlowDown, which encourages residents and visitors to use public transport. The idea is to have residents and tourists speed up when it comes to increasing physical activity and slow down to enhance peace of mind.

Priya, a primary school teacher, has been driving a car for more than half a decade, often prefers metro rides. “Metro’s punctuality has been a lifesaver for me, I don’t have to worry about being late to my early morning class because of traffic,” Priya told Khaleej Times.

Indeed, when it comes to timing and frequency of trains, RTA has done an excellent job at being punctual.

Now that it is Dubai Fitness Challenge month, there are people who take public transport to compete in the fitness challenge since they walk to complete their first and last mile journey. Lisa has taken this challenge in stride.

“I usually drive home from work but now I walk nearly 10,000 steps to complete my first and last mile journey so that I achieve my daily target of the fitness challenge,” said the 29-year-old German expat.