Sharjah goes ahead with major public transport system

At a contract-signing ceremony, General Manager of KGL Passenger Transport Services, (Sharjah Branch ) Fahad Al Awadhi told media that the project would cover 19 service routes, nine service stations, and 142 specially-equipped buses ultimately carrying 80,000 passengers per day.

Sharjah Public Transport Corporation - Sharjah Transport - fully owned by the Government of Sharjah, was established in November 2002 as the sole authority to determine the policies for all public transport services in the emirate.

It has exclusive rights to regulate, control, and franchise all public transport services including taxis, intra-emirate and inter-emirates mass transport, and city bus services.

Sharjah Transport issued a tender for the provision of bus services in Sharjah, with international and local companies competing for the rights, with the award being made in favour of KGL Passenger Transport Services for an eight-year franchise period.

"This project aims at operating a wide bus transportation network in Sharjah that will cope with the emirate's large growth in population over the past few years," said Al Awadhi.

"It seeks to reduce the traffic jams and develop a common transportation service for everyone to use and is a development of great importance to Sharjah's status as an emirate that offers first-class public transport for residents and tourists alike."

KGL Passenger Transport Services is a multi-modal passenger transportation solution provider for the public, private and commercial sectors in Kuwait and abroad.

Manned by a strong and diversified workforce, it successfully operates overland transportation throughout the MENA region including Hajj and Umrah, military and commercial bus services, taxi and limousine services, as well as public and school transport.

The company boasts a large and diverse fleet of recently-acquired and well-maintained vehicles equipped with state of the art IT solutions. It is strengthening its market position through strategic vehicle acquisitions, and by adhering to the highest quality and safety standards, while maintaining balance between cost and flexibility for customers, which assures their loyalty and continuous streams of revenue.

The company's reputation for superior delivery has made it the first choice in transport services for the Coalition Forces, the Ministry of Education, Public Authority for Youth and Sports, and many other institutions in Kuwait.

KGL-PTS is an active member of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP), Taxicab-Limousine & Para Transit Association (TLPA), Kuwait Overland Transport Union (KOTU), and the Arab Union of Land Transport (AULT).

"Ever since our company was eligible to enter the bidding, we created different consultation cells to study the present and future transport demands in Sharjah, especially for inner city transport," said Al Awadhi. "Many widespread field studies were conducted to give different scenarios related to the natural functions, demographic and geographical difficulties that might present obstacles to the project or weaken its performance.

"We will launch at the end of the first quarter of 2008 with three main routes, to be followed by the completion of the rest of the routes by the end of the first year. The plan will be integrated in a phased manner that accommodates the nature of the roads, with the purpose of raising its efficiency so as to achieve the maximum benefits to traffic control and ease of movement.

"The other important stage in the preparation for launching this service is assembling the right work team that will take full responsibility on various levels.

"This starts with the project management team in Kuwait, which will run things according to the vision and desired targets set for this project. Another group will be recruited and trained to have similar goals. Here I would like to point out the fact that our company believes that no one holds the best interest of this country more than its citizens, and that is why our company's main objective is to focus on Emiratisation.

"In addition to that, the company has focused on scaling its work information to advanced global standards, using global positioning and industrial satellite information systems, automatic ticketing, and advanced surveillance equipment, all to ensure the highest levels of service and efficiency."