Dubai sees 82.5% drop in new car registrations

Wednesday, 9 June 2010 7:51 AM

Dubai saw an 82.5 percent slump in the number of new cars being registered in 2009, the result of the credit crunch and the advent of the metro system, officials have said.

According to a senior Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) official, the falling trend seems to have continued in the first few months of this year, Khaleej Times reported on Tuesday.

From a high of 142,121 new vehicles registered in Dubai in 2008, the number dropped to just 24,883 last year.

Ahmed Hashem Bahrozyan, CEO of the RTA’s Licensing Agency, told the paper: “Private vehicles are no more the most preferred means of transport for many people.

"With the advent of metro in Dubai and a wider and enhanced public bus network, more people are preferring to use the mass transit system."

He said that "the troubled economic situation" was another reason for the drop in numbers.

"It’s no longer easy to buy a car or go for a driving licence for many people. With cheaper and convenient alternatives like metro and buses available, people are making a practical choice rather than going for extravagance,” Bahrozyan told the paper.

Last month, it was reported that since 2005 when the RTA took over as the public transport operator of the emirate, the use of public transport has doubled from six to 12 percent.

The RTA said it was confident that the figure will reach 30 percent by 2020.

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Posted by: i-FUN (Intelligent Friends in the University Network) Friday, 11 June 2010 6:45 AM[UAE] - Canada

Transit ridership has been the focus of study in severl countries. I did this as one of my working papers for a leading university in UK. Now I would like to invite the readers and RTA in Dubai to look at one of such researh from on factors influencing transit riedership from UCLA Department of Urban Planning, Instute of Transport Studies. Please visit the resources online at http://www.uctc.net/papers/681.pdf All the best for making the city less congested and save lives on the road

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Posted by: Edino Thursday, 10 June 2010 7:38 PM[UAE] - UAE

@ Sami Same experience here with Al Tayer. But than in a year old Ford car and was quoted 40% of the new price. I have also declined, and sold it to an other dealer for a much higher price. Al Tayer lost a customer. Shows clearly that their is no customer and brand loyalty by this dealer when wanting to trade the same brand of car.

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Posted by: SCC Thursday, 10 June 2010 7:20 PM[UAE]

Of course one could surmise that the reason dealers such as Al Tayer have done so well for years is precisely because the City is full of people who pay nearly $70k for a vehicle only to trade up in three months

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Posted by: Paul Thursday, 10 June 2010 6:44 PM[UAE]

Ah, well you see, therein lies the problem. Let?s hypothetically say the majority of 117,238 registrations were because of people using the Metro more. Now let?s charitably assume that a single car will occasionally have a passenger as well as a driver, so that?s presumably 234,000 or so extra car-free people. Let?s then reasonably assume that not every single one of those 234,000 people actually used public transport. Maybe 200,000 then? Let?s give the benefit of the doubt. Now, if that 200,000 represents a 1% increase in the number of people using Dubai?s public transport... ?that means over 20 million different people must have used public transport in Dubai in 2009! Or in other words, every single man, woman and child in the Emirate caught the bus or Metro at least once and then another 19 million tourists did too. Is it just me, or does that seem ever so slightly implausible?

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Posted by: gordon Thursday, 10 June 2010 6:11 PM[UAE]

funny you said that Sami I was about to order from Al Tayer till I discovered I could buy the JAG direct from the UK, full Dubai spec, ship it out, pay for tax etc etc and still save aed 40k hence..buying in the UK

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