A new dedicated bus lane has been added on First Al Khail Street in Al Quoz, with a warning to motorists that those who will use it will get a fine of Dh600, Khaleej Times has learnt.
The dedicated bus lane is only on one direction – starting from Al Quoz Bus Station all the way to the bowling centre heading towards Zaa’beel. It does not have, however, the distinctive bright red markings and solid yellow lines found on Khalid Bin Al Waleed Road, Naif Street, and Al Ghubaiba Road.
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The bus lane along First Al Khail Street has broken yellow lines to give way to motorists who are turning right to Latifa bint Hamdan Streeet towards Al Khail Road, or those taking the service road near the KT office.
Earlier, in April, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced plans to construct more dedicated bus and taxi lanes spanning 13.1km on six key streets, expanding Dubai’s network of dedicated bus lanes to 20.1km.
The aim was to cut journey time by nearly 60 per cent on some routes, with the new special lanes on Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, 2nd of December, Al Satwa, Al Nahda, Omar bin Al Khattab, and Naif streets.
Extending the bus and taxi lanes is also expected to boost public transport usage by up to 30 per cent on some roads, RTA noted.
Boost to public transport
The dedicated bus lanes will boost the reliability of public bus transport in Dubai, Thomas Edelmann, founder and managing director of RoadSafetyUAE, told Khaleej Times. They will not only shorten travel time but will also ensure adherence to timetable as buses will not get caught up in traffic.
“This is another innovation for Dubai and this is always good news for raising awareness around road safety,” he added.
Edelmann is also confident the dedicated lanes “will lead to more bus users, which in turn will lead to fewer vehicles on the roads and reduce traffic jams, pollution, and erratic behaviour of some motorists.”