ABU DHABI, 2 Mar, 05 (WAM) - Dubai and Abu Dhabi municipalities willjointly launch a new express bus service, Emirates Express between thetwo cities from March 15 onwards.
This was announced on Wednesday at a press conference at Dubai Municipalityin the presence of senior officials of both the civic bodies.
Dubai Municipality was represented by Obeid Salem Al Shamsi, AssistantDirector General for Administrative and General Services Affairs andAbdul Aziz Malik, Director of Public Transport Department, while AbuDhabi Municipality was represented by Mohammed Mubarak Al Marar, Directorof Public Transport Department, Saeed Mohammed Al Hamili, Deputy Directorof Public Transport Department and Ali Hussain, Head of Marketingand Planning Section.
Al Shamsi said the new service is considered to be the fruit of co-operationbetween the two municipalities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. 'Both the civicbodies contributed towards it fully by proving all the requirements forthe service including manpower, air-conditioned luxury coaches and completeamenities for operating the service as the officials at both the municipalitieswere keen to provide a safe, economic, comfortable and eco-friendly meansof transport between different emirates of the country,' he said.
Al Shamsi said the officials took into consideration the entire traffic,economic and environmental aspects encompassing the operations of transportingpassengers through road networks that connect Dubai and Abu Dhabi inparticular and other emirates of the country in general.
Al Shamsi said this route embodies the increased care that the UAE isproviding the transport sector considering that it is one of the mostimportant urban solutions for the problems resulting from the steadyand intense growth of population and the use of private small vehicles,a problem that is faced by most of the nations in the world today.
He said the concerned officials and experts in Abu Dhabi and Dubai municipalitiesheld a number of meetings and conducted necessary studies aimed at designingthe service and preparing a working plan by dividing the responsibilitiesbetween the two sides.
Al Shamsi thanked the concerned officials and experts in both the civicbodies for their earnest efforts in accomplishing this important projectand called for increased efforts for further enhancing the public transportsector and realizing the objectives of the country.
Malik said the new service will start from the main bus station in AbuDhabi and ply through Sheikh Rashid road, Sheikh Zayed road passing throughUmm Al Nar, Al Shahama and Al Samha stations and Dubai World Trade Centreintersection and halt at Al Ghubaibah bus station in Dubai. The servicewill take the same route on its return trip to Abu Dhabi and the passengersare able to get down at the stations on the way or reach Abu Dhabi directly,he said.
The coaches will take two hours to run the 150km long route. The firstbus will leave Al Ghubaibah station at 6am and the last one will leavethe station at 9pm. The first bus from Abu Dhabi main bus station willstart at 6.30am and the last bus will leave the station at 9.30pm. Servicesfrom each station will be operated at a frequency of 45 minutes and additionalcoaches will be put on service as per demand increases in the future.
The ticket rate would be Dhs15 per passenger.
