Cameras to monitor two more bus lanes
Dedicated bus and taxi lanes in Al Ghubaiba and Al Mamzar to be under surveillance
Dedicated bus and taxi lanes in Dubai’s Al Ghubaiba and Al Mamzar areas will be monitored by cameras from the end of this month following their success in reducing violations on Naif Road.
Dubai has 7km of bus and taxi priority lanes.
Last year, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) installed APNR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras on a dedicated bus lane on Naif Road, which helped reduce violations by 88 per cent.
There will be no fines till October 30 so motorists can get used to the new system. However, from October 31 there will a fine of Dh600.
The cameras identify two categories of vehicles — whitelisted and black-listed.
Categories
White-listed vehicles include RTA buses, taxis, ambulances, Civil Defence and police vehicles, which are allowed to use the dedicated bus lanes.
All private vehicles are blacklisted and will be penalised if they use the dedicated lanes. Motorists are, however, allowed a grace distance of 20 metres for exit and entry from side roads, parking as well as drop off areas.
Abdullah Yousuf Al Ali, CEO of RTA’s Public Transport Agency, said that the offences are reported either automatically through the cameras, or manually through Dubai Police patrols. If the motorist is fined twice (automatically and manually) for the same offence, only one fine will be collected.
RTA is also working to develop a plan to dedicate more lanes for buses and taxi. “The implementation plan will commence by the end of this year and will extend for two years that will target the high congested areas in Deira and Bur Dubai districts,” Al Ali said.
RTA introduced 6km of dedicated bus lanes in 2010 on sections of Al Mankhool Street, Al Khaleej Street, Khalid Bin Al Waleed Street and Al Ghubaiba Street.
In 2011, the project covered a section of Naif Street and parts of Ittihad Street in the direction from Sharjah to Dubai near Al Nahda Interchange.