Dubai Transportation Update in 2024: What's New?

The Road and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai is actively updating the transportation infrastructure to enhance road safety, alleviate traffic congestion, and offer local and international visitors some of the most advanced and sustainable means of travel. This blog will highlight some key points about several futuristic forms of transportation and provide major updates on Dubai's transportation system.

Dubai Metro

The Dubai Metro is one of the world's most advanced driverless rapid transit systems, famous for efficiency, punctuality, and cleanliness. It provides a fast and convenient way for its citizens and tourists to travel around Dubai.

Recent Update

Four Metro Stations Reopened

Good news for daily commuters! After the UAE's worst-ever storm, four Dubai Metro stations, Equiti, Energy, Al Mashreq and ONPASSIVE, were closed due to severe damage to each station. Three Dubai Metro stations, Onpassive, Equiti and Mashreq, were reopened on Sunday, May 19 and the fourth, Energy, May 28.

Future Update

Dubai Metro Blue Line

Mattar Al Tayer, the head of the RTA, stated that the Dubai Metro Blue Line project will start in 2024. After the Red and Green line, the Blue Line will be a third line on the Dubai Metro network. It will have 14 stations and 30 km long. The AED 18,000,000,000 project aims to connect key areas in the city to Dubai International Airport. These areas are:

• Al Warqa
• Dubai Silicon Oasis
• Ras Al Khor Industrial Area
• Dubai Festival City
• Mirdif
• Internationalnal City 1
• International City 2
• Academic City
• Dubai Creek Harbour

The Blue Line will feature two routes. The first route will start at the Creek Interchange Station on the Green Line in Al Jaddaf. It will go through Dubai Festival City, Dubai Creek Harbour, and Ras Al Khor, then reach Dubai International City 1, which will have an interchange station. The route will continue to Dubai International City 2 and 3, then to Dubai Silicon Oasis, and end at the Academic City.

The second route of the Blue Line will start at the Centrepoint Interchange Station on the Red Line in Al Rashidiya. It will go through Mirdif and Al Warqaa and end at the Dubai International City 1 Interchange Station.

According to RTA, the project will reduce traffic by 20% and increase the value of nearby lands and properties by 25%. Travel time on this route is expected to be between 10 and 25 minutes.

The project will finish in 2029 on the 20th anniversary of the Dubai Metro.

Revised Top-up Amount for Nol Cards

The Nol card is a smart card used to pay for riding the Dubai Metro, buses, trams, and waterbuses. It also works for paying taxi fares, parking, entry to Dubai parks, the Etihad Museum, and over 2,000 shops and restaurants in the city.

People using Nol cards in Dubai need to add at least AED 20 instead of AED 5. Also, they should have at least AED 15 (previously Dhs7.50) on their card for a round trip on the metro. One-way fares vary from AED 3 to AED 15 based on zones and class.

Nol cards can be topped up at the ticket offices in metro stations, on the RTA website or mobile app, using solar-powered top-up machines, at ENOC and EPPCO petrol stations, Zoom stores, and through the Careem app.

Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has upgraded the Nol card system to a digital version. The digital Nol card allows passengers to pay fares easily through the Nol Pay app. Although digital Nol cards are available for some Samsung and Huawei devices, the new system, with many new features, is expected to be ready by the end of 2025.

Following are the different types of Nol cards in Dubai:

Taxis

Dubai will double the taxi fleet and increase the number of taxis leaving Dubai Airport to 700. The Dubai Taxi Company also adds monthly taxis to the city's roads. But the mega upcoming projects are:

Driverless Taxis

According to Dubai's Crown Prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Road and Transport Authority (RTA) signed an agreement with Cruise, a top US autonomous vehicle company. This deal supports Dubai's 2030 vision for self-driving technology and will allow Cruise to run self-driving taxis and ride-hailing services in Dubai. Driverless taxis are expected to reduce road accidents, of which 90% occur due to human negligence. Test drives of self-driving taxis have started, and the registration process will be announced by RTA soon.

Flying Taxis

Dubai will commence its flying taxi service by 2026. At first, the self-driving taxis will link four main parts of Dubai: Downtown Dubai, Dubai Marina, Dubai Airport, and Palm Jumeirah. These taxis can have a top speed of 300km per hour and accommodate up to four passengers with one pilot. The RTA has been collaborating with top advanced air mobility companies to create and build the infrastructure needed for this project.

Buses

The RTA is working hard to improve Dubai's bus service by changing routes, adding new stations, and building special lanes just for buses. As of now, the bus network covers 82% of the city and carries over 360,000 passengers daily. A new bus station, Stadium, opened in May near the Al Qusais Metro station.

After adding the Stadium bus station, routes such as 62, X02, X23, X22, X13, X25, X92, X64, and X94 are much faster now. Improvements have also been made to 30 routes: 19, 23, 27, 43, 62, C04, C10, C15, C18, D03, E102, E307, E400, F08, F17, F22, F23, F23A, F24, F51, W20, X02, X13, X22, X23, X25, X28, X64, X92, X94.

Salik Toll Gates

Salik is an automatic free-flowing road toll collection system in Dubai. The city has eight toll gates, but two new Salik toll gates will start operating in November 2024. One toll gate will be located at Al Safa South on Sheikh Zayed Road between Al Meydan Street and Umm Al Sheif Street, and the second will be at Business Bay Crossing on Al Khail Road.

The introduction of the Al Safa South toll gate is one of the steps aimed at reducing 15 % of the right-turn traffic coming from Sheikh Zayed Road to Meydan Street and easing congestion on the Financial Centre. The Business Bay Crossing gate is expected to divert 10 to 16 % of the volume of traffic on Al Rabat Street, reduce 12 to 15 %of road congestion on Al Khail Road, and redirect traffic to Al Maktoum and Al Garhoud bridges and Ras Al Khor Street.

Dubai Mall Paid Parking

Salik is also working with Emaar Malls to set up a new parking system at Dubai Mall, which should be ready by the third quarter of 2024. After the commencement of this new system, parking at Dubai Mall will become a paid service. The exact parking fees will be decided once Emaar Malls finalises the project's rules.

Parking fees at Dubai Mall will be automatically charged using automatic number plate recognition and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. A camera will capture the plate number when a car enters the parking area and record the time. When the car leaves, another camera will scan the plate number again, and the system will calculate the parking duration. This barrier-free parking system will make parking easier for the visitors.

Conclusion

Dubai is making big changes to its transportation system to make it safer, less crowded, and more advanced. With better Metro services, bus routes, and an expanded taxi fleet, previously hard-to-reach areas will become more accessible. The Blue Line and the expansion of the Salik toll system will help reduce travel times across the city. Properties in locations that benefit from shorter commutes will likely see a rise in demand.