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UAE transport leaves passengers standing
UAE residents say public transport in the country is inadequate, with only one in three using available services, a new survey has revealed.
Research commissioned by UAE daily Gulf News found that 72% of those surveyed found public transport lacking, with 85% saying they had been refused taxi journeys because of their choice of destination.
Just 30% of the 974 respondents said they used public transport, with a higher percentage of Asians using buses and taxis than Arabs or Westerners.
The study, conducted for Gulf News by YouGov-Siraj, found 73% of respondents travel to work by car. It noted a 10% decrease in public transport use over the past 16 months.
Taxis are the first choice of transport for higher earners ($6,666 per month and above), with 100% saying they relied on them, although a third of respondents in this group also used buses.
One third of respondents said bus routes were inadequate with seven in 10 saying they had complained in the past about poor services.
Taxis fared least well among Westerners, 56% of who said service was poor due to driver behaviour, cost and availability.
The research showed Asians were more likely to be refused a taxi ride than any other nationality, with the majority reporting daily occurrences, and 23% reporting it happening once a week.
Over half of respondents said they were optimistic about the introduction of water taxis, however, with 86% positively anticipating the metro. 50% said they would choose the metro over other forms of transport given a level playing field.
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Posted by Shreekant Deshpande, Dubai, UAE on 23 March 2008 at 22:22 UAE time
There was a joke about USA- There was a time in USA when you had to be rich to own a car, now you need to be rich not to own one!
Dubai has come to the same position and the RTA is doing its best to prevent aspiring drivers from getting a license to avoid bringing more cars from the street but doing nothing about the public transport which they simply ignore.
Posted by Alex, Dubai, United Arab Emirates on 13 March 2008 at 17:45 UAE time
What is the RTA doing about this "The research showed Asians were more likely to be refused a taxi ride than any other nationality, with the majority reporting daily occurrences, and 23% reporting it happening once a week."
Do these Taxi Drivers deserve to be working in public service sectors, i avoid taxi's as much as possible.
Posted by Anas Arnaout, Dubai, UAE on 13 March 2008 at 10:01 UAE time
i think the taxi situation in Dubai is becoming intolerable. It's almost impossible to get Dubai transport to even answer the phone, let along send a taxi within reasonable time (many times it never shows up), despite the joke on their web site about answering the phone promptly!