RTA buys 373 new buses for public transport service

The Dubai Roads and Transportation Authority (RTA) has signed a contract to buy 373 Volvo SB3 buses along with a 10-year maintenance contract to support the Dubai mobility plan and to cope with the growing number of public bus passengers.

The new buses comply with the Euro 6 norms, and will be the first time buses of this standard will operate in the Mena region. The signing of the contract, for an amount of Dhs474 million, took place on the sidelines of the UITP Summit in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.

Mattar Al Tayer, Executive Director and President of the Executive Board of RTA, and Hakan Agnevall, President of Volvo Bus Corporation, signed the contract in the presence of representatives of both entities.

"The acquisition of these new buses is part of RTA's strategy to improve Dubai's public transport services in the Emirate and meet the sustained growth of public transport passengers, serving RTA's efforts to increase the proportion of users of public transport to 26% by 2030. " I firmly believe that the achievement of this objective depends on the provision of high quality public transport services at affordable prices, the expansion of the geographical coverage of the public transport network and the promotion of the integration of public transport modes. Public transport, "said Al Tayer.

"The contract covers the purchase of 373 first class and high safety Volvo buses equipped with Euro 6 engines that are environmentally friendly and capable of supporting future technologies and innovations, these buses are classified as Class II vehicles of the United Nations , which allows flexibility in the operation of buses, in "interurban routes or long distances. "The buses comply with the ITxPT system that allows interoperability between IT systems in public transport, thanks to the availability of the bus information database stored in the UAE (UAE in the cloud)," said Al Tayer .

Each bus has a capacity for 74 passengers and is equipped with interactive touch screens to display instant information about the trip. Buses are also equipped with the Raqeeb system (driver behavior monitoring) to track driver exhaustion.

They also have the Rasid system (automated passenger counting system) to record the actual number of passengers and combine it with the automated fare collection system to abort attempts to evade fares.