Sessions continue at the 1st MENA Public Transport Congress

The sessions are attracting huge attention from the authorities and businesses engaged in the field of public transport. It is also being a focus of a large number of experts & decision makers engaged in this line of business from the region and the world over.

Engineer Essa Al Dossari, CEO of Public Transport Agency at Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) and Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Congress stated that the visitors and participants hailed the efforts made by the RTA in conjunction with the UITP and were impressed with the way the Showcase was set up and the designs of stands for the participating companies.

"Participation of MENA countries in this gathering stems from their keen attention to keep abreast of development in the field of public transport and maximize the extensive experience and great potentials enjoyed by the developed countries in this arena. This has to be customized in a way compatible with the requirements of these two regions considering the challenges resulting from the urban & demographic expansion witnessed by these two regions. This is attributed to the massive economic growth witnessed by all sectors; a matter which led to introduction of wise policies that triggered constructive strategies & ambitious plans aiming at upgrading the existing structures of public transport. Such plans also aim at creating the intended integration between the patterns and modes of public transport so that this sector will remain the most important driving force of the economic activity in the region, considering the vital role it plays as the biggest supporter of all other sectors"

Among the topics discussed in yesterday's session, a visual show was presented by engineer Abdul Aziz Al Malik, CEO of RTA Taxi Agency in which he highlighted the vision on which the Agency is bases. He said that it is the same vision of the RTA of "providing smooth & safe transport for all".

He added that the mission of the Agency is to provide a taxi fleet based on the latest and providing a diverse package of excellent services to meet requirements of all categories of the community. This covers the organization chart, tasks & responsibilities, various services delivered by the Agency, safety & security procedures, tariff, and future performance & projects indicators.

From CARS company, which is a franchise company working under the umbrella of Dubai Taxi, Abdulla Sultan Al Sabbagh, General Manager of the Company made a visual presentation under the theme "Lessons learnt from operating taxis in the Gulf" in which he talked about several key issues regarding the difficulties facing this industry and how to find solutions for them. Al Sabbag announced that CARS will launch Air Taxi next year.

Peter Courtinhurst, President Connexion Hilfrosom from Holland made a presentation under the theme "Integrating & Linking Taxis with Public Transport Network". He explained in detail the advantages of this integration and the means of to develop it in a small country with a high population density like Holland through using advanced technology and other innovative means.

Session and presentations continued with participation from elite experts and decision makers in the field of public transport in MENA countries, in addition to their counterparts from other parts of the world and continued till five o'clock in the evening.

Al Dossari expected that the first MENA Congress and Showcase will be very successful in highlighting the leading projects undertaken by the RTA linking all public transport networks, Dubai Metro, marine transport and taxis. Moreover, it will showcase the infrastructure such as roads, bridges and tunnels required to carry out these giant project in a way compatible with the importance of Dubai as a regional hub linking the advanced countries with the emerging markets in the region.