The Abu Dhabi Municipality has prepared a comprehensive transportation system plan that will include a circular rail system covering 12km and having 19 stops.
The train with 12 coaches will make a round trip in 30 minutes, with a stop between stations every three to five minutes on average.
Bus stops will also increase from the present 160 to 520. To manage transportation in the city centre, the municipality will restrict taxis from going downtown and increase fares on certain routes.
A free service will also be offered for transportation within the city and the main routes.According to a municipality report, drastic measures will be taken to improve transportation in the city because the population is increasing sharply.
The report showed the city's population has surged from approximately 140,000 in 1980 to 575,000 in 2000. It is expected to grow to 1,250,000 in 2020, an increase of 230 per cent.
This population rise has severely affected the city centre where skyscrapers with more than 20 storeys have been built. This in turn has led to severe traffic congestion.
The municipality received several complaints in recent years demanding better management of the city transportation system.
The civic body, during the past two years, attempted to solve the problem by establishing a number of multi-storeyed underground parking lots. But this plan failed to solve the congestion problem since majority of the car owners preferred to park their cars in public areas where no charges were levied.
The future transportation plan prepared by the municipality will reduce and manage traffic congestion well.
Highways, roads and streets will be improved with the introduction of more lanes to accommodate more vehicles. Some of the changes also include building tunnels along the Eastern Road, Al Salam Street and the East Coast Road.
Interchanges and bridges will be built to link the industrial city, the south of Musafah with Zayed and Khalifa City A and Khalifa City B with nearby lanes.
The municipality will launch a study to improve the quality of public transport to encourage people to use buses instead of their own cars and taxis. Some of the suggestions to improve the system are new one-way routes, roundabouts and roads in the city centre.
Air-conditioned bus-stops for passengers are also suggested to encourage them to use public transport.
The municipality will also introduce highly-efficient, airconditioned buses going from the east of Musafah to the city centre, a journey that will not take more than 10 minutes. With these steps it expects to increase the number of passengers using public transport from half per cent to five per cent.
This is expected to cause a decline in use of private cars during rush hours.
Gulf News
