More than 60,000 ride metro on Friday

Sunday, 20 September 2009 10:29 AM

Dubai Metro saw its highest number of journeys taken in one day since it opened to the public, as more than 60,000 passengers travelled on the red Line on Friday, official figures show.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said 60,837 passengers used the network, with more expected during the Eid holidays.

Peyman Younes Parham, director of marketing and corporate communications, said the metro would be “enormously used by the public during the Eid Holidays”.

"Consequently, we appeal to the riders from different social cross-sections to be more patient when entering the stations and heading for the trains," he said.

The metro officially opened on September 9, and opened for fee paying passengers the following day.

Additional trains will be run during the holidays to address the expected rise in the number of passengers, it was reported on Saturday.

In a bid to ease congestion in stations, the five most used stations will be staffed with teams of advisers who can help passengers.

Teams will be wearing "Ask Me" badges and will be at Al Rashidya station, City Center, Union Square, Mall of Emirates and Nakheel Harbour and Tower.

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Posted by: Jon Wednesday, 23 September 2009 3:13 PM[UAE] - UAE

AB: does daily Metro passenger numbers really constitute news? OK, we get the point, poeple like to go for a quick ride up and down the train tracks. But why don't you publish something useful like; how many people actually use it to commute? In otherwords, what's ridership like between 6am and 8.30am? How is the Metro helping the RTA achieve their goal of 30% of journies in Dubai by public transport? The Metro appears to be a great success; but ultimately, it is a mass transit system. Cut through the numbers and report something useful to the greater good of Dubai rather than flashy headlines that really mean little.

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Posted by: GD Tuesday, 22 September 2009 5:48 PM[UAE] - UAE

before people go off on a tangent and start arguments and debates, how about establishing some facts first? For example, how would you know the women were local, and not in fact saudi, omani, bahraini, etc? did they show some kind of ID? I suspect they were wearing abayas, therefore incorrectly deemed to be 'local'. How can you take this persons anecdotal version of events as the truth, without knowing all the circumstances, and then jump to all sorts of conclusions!?

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Posted by: Mounir Tuesday, 22 September 2009 3:27 PM[UAE] - UAE

In all my years in the UAE i have never heard of a local forcing a non local out of his seat in a restaurent or movie theater or park or bank or wherever simply because he is a local and thus more deserving. this is clearly a one-off incident which can happen in all countries, and its the fault of SERCO and the RTA for not training its employees properly on customer service.

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Posted by: Mimi Tuesday, 22 September 2009 11:44 AM[UAE]

Where did you grow up and do you have any respect for women? Would you make your mother stand while you sitting? Our main function is a childbirth...OMG! Will you please go back to your cave..

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Posted by: Ali Tuesday, 22 September 2009 10:02 AM[UAE]

Well, I have seen this "respect hosts" logic used in so many situations; from someone jumping in front of me in a queue, to someone deliberately crashing his 4x4 into a small car (saw that last week). The offender was presumably a native who claimed the other driver didnt respect him, by not allowing him to jump ahead of him, so he has a right to crash his car to someone who comes to a bank queue and barks "Move! I have important work" I havent seen similar stuff in HKG or the US or the Uk, so presumably we ,as expats, have to go to extra lengths to show "respect", which is why one may have to think like the way I posted...

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