Dubai, UAE–Dubai has recorded a 35 percent increase in the number of people using public transport like metro, tram, buses, marine transport and taxis in 2022, the emirate’s Roads and Transport Authority said Sunday.
In 2021, the public transport ridership was 461 million, which rose to 621.4 million in 2022. About 1.7 million people rode public transport, shared mobility and taxis daily in 2022 compared to 1.3 million riders in 2021.
Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA, said the share of the Metro in Dubai’s public transport ridership had increased by 3 percent, while marine transport riders showed a 1 percent rise when compared to 2021 levels.
Dubai Metro achieved the largest percentage of the public transport, shared transport and taxis ridership in 2022, amounting to 36 percent up by 3 percent from the 2021 level of 33 percent, he said.
“It is a good indicator of people shifting to public transport modes s that serve a growing number of riders,” Al Tayer said.
The share of public buses reached 25 percent, and marine transport riders grew from 2 percent in 2021 to 3 percent in 2023. Meanwhile, shared mobility modes and Dubai Tram maintained their ridership levels, which amounted to 5 percent for shared transport, and 1 percent for Dubai Tram.
March 2022 recorded an all-time high monthly ridership touching 62 million coinciding with the end of Expo 2020, followed by December which saw 57 million riders. Ridership rates in other months ranged from 46 to 56 million.