04 October 2015
Roads and Transport Authority - Manal Khaled: The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has recently held its 2nd Government Innovation Lab session, which was designated to thrashing out innovative ideas & cracking solutions for coping with the congestion of metro carriages and stations, especially during peak hours. The CEO of RTA Rail Agency Abdullah Yousef Al Ali attended the session in addition to more than 50 participants including RTA staffs, university students, metro riders, strategic partners (such as Dubai Police) and the metro operator SERCO.

A visual presentation was made highlighting the Dubai Metro and the rising numbers of its riders, which is getting increasingly popular. The Metro Red & Green Lines have lifted during the first half of this year more than 88 million riders that prompts those overseeing the operation of this vital project to do their level best towards improving the services and using technology to make people happier.

The participants in the workshop were divided into 4 groups, where each group put forward a variety of ideas, which were required to be smart, effective, pioneering and sustainable in easing the congestion of the metro and stations. Then, each group voted the best 5 ideas that fulfill the conditions, bringing the final number to 20 ideas.

Mohammed Al Mudharreb, Director of RTA's Rails Operation, praised the positive role played by the workshop in encouraging the parties concerned to come up with such smart, pioneering, effective and sustainable solutions & ideas to alleviate the congestion; a key obstacle facing metro riders during morning and evening peak hours. "This has prompted us to hold this creative workshop in order to come up with suitable solutions addressing the requirements of all community members, and in line with RTA's strategic goal of "Bringing Happiness to People," he commented.

"Participants have come up with 20 creative, brilliant and effective ideas, which would be fully examined, improved and considered for implementation shortly in order to realize the primary objective of beating the congestion at the metro carriages & stations," added Al Mudharreb.

It is worth mentioning that RTA's Innovation Lab, which is located in the Dubai Tram Depot at ​​Al Sufouh, is the first government innovation lab in Dubai. It includes sophisticated training halls equipped with the latest technologies, and work spaces for holding brainstorming workshops. It also comprises an innovation club designed to the highest aesthetic standards to nurture creativity-conducive environment, in addition to a main platform for showcasing & debating ideas. There are also interactive display screens for sharing the visual content with members as they can be linked with smartphones and hand-held computers, enabling displaying the visual content wirelessly. The Lab also includes other supporting facilities such as rest area, prayer rooms, and meeting rooms.

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© Press Release 2015