(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Published: Sun 26 Feb 2023, 12:01 PM Around 621.4 million riders used Dubai's public transport network last year, an increase of 35 per cent compared to the previous year's 461 million riders, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced on Sunday.
The average daily ridership of public transport, shared mobility and taxis clocked 1.7 million riders in 2022 compared to 1.3 million riders in 2021.
The emirate's public transport comprises Dubai Metro, Dubai Tram, public buses, marine transport (abra, ferry, water taxi, water bus), shared mobility (e-hail, smart car rentals, bus-on-demand), and taxis.
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.
Mattar Al Tayer, director-general, chairman of RTA, said the share of the Metro in Dubai's public transport ridership increased by three per cent, while marine transport riders showed a one per cent rise when compared to 2021 levels.
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“Dubai Metro acquired the largest percentage of the public transport, shared transport and taxis ridership in 2022, amounting to 36 per cent. It is a good indicator of people shifting to public transport modes that serve a growing number of riders. The share of public buses reached 25 per cent, and marine transport riders grew from two per cent in 2021 to 3 per cent in 2023. Shared mobility modes and Dubai Tram maintained their ridership levels, which amounted to five per cent for shared transport, and one per cent for Dubai Tram,” he said.
Busiest metro stations RTA said the number of riders using Dubai Metro's Red and Green Lines amounted to 225.1 million riders in 2022. Burjuman and Union Stations, which are interchange stations on the Red and Green Lines, accounted for the largest share of public transport riders of Dubai Metro in 2022. Burjuman Station served 13 million riders on both the Red and Green Lines, whereas the Union Station was used by 10.8 million riders.
On the Red Line, Al Rigga Station attracted the highest number of riders reaching 9.9 million, followed by Mall of the Emirates Station (9.6m), Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall Station (8.8m) and the Business Bay Station (8.5m).
On the Green Line, Sharaf DG ranked first in terms of riders recording 7.7 million ahead of Baniyas Station (7.3m) followed by the Stadium Station (5.6m), Salah Al Din Station (5.3m), and Al Ghubaiba Station (4.9m).