Malaysian delegation visits RTA

This was the first time that an international delegation visited RTA to gain knowledge and expertise about the transport industry.

Present at the meetings were Eng. Ramadan, Director of Rail Operations, and Eng. Mahdi Ali, Director of Unified Automated Fare Collection (UAFC), from the RTA and Mr. Nah Teik Ong, Senior Manager, Strategic Planning and Business Development, Mr. Ismail Abdullah, Senior Manager, Rail Station Operations, and Mr. Zulkiffli Mohammed Abdullah, Revenue Systems Manager, IT Division from Prasarana.

Eng. Mahdi Ali explained to the delegation the objectives of the UAFC, highlighting that the system is designed to deal with 6 million transactions a day and can handle more on addition of hardware. The system is imported and custom made. He said, "The Unified Smart Card will be introduced for the Marine, and Public Buses by the end of this year and then for the Dubai Metro by September 2009. All the new buses will be delivered with the new ticketing system and all existing ticketing systems on the old buses will be replaced by the new system. The second phase would involve introducing it to private service operators and then in future enabling the public to use it in supermarkets, cinemas and malls (micro payment)."

Speaking on the types of cards, he added that the system includes the use of two types of 'Contact less Cards' called the Mifare Desfire and the Ultralight. The e-friendly 'Contactless Smart Card' will allow commuters to switch over from one mode of transport to the other and park through a unified fare. In future Dubai will have all Public Transport operators' part of the unified Card scheme which include Public Buses, Taxis, Dubai Metro, Marine, and Al Sofouh Tram system, Palm Islands as well as the Street Parking.

The Mifare Desfire Cards is a long term stored value and season card that can be used by commuters, staff and operators and can be re-charged at the ticket office, or ticketing machines in Metro and Bus Stations, or approved vendors. Recharging options via the internet and the mobile phone are under consideration.

Eng.Ramadan said, "The transaction time of the smart card for the Metro is 200 milliseconds. Thus, passengers needn't wait at the wide fare gates or queue up at Ticket vending machines. The tickets will be trip and time based. The fare structure has not been decided as of yet, however we plan to have different colour pass cards for passengers traveling in different classes on the Metro."

The RTA officials went on to explain the working of the system in detail at the control rooms and emphasized that the smart card can also reveal details of the last few transactions.

Also a brief presentation was given by the public transport experts on the plans RTA has to improve its bus services. All new busses will be equipped with new high tech systems which enable monitoring and correction of timetable from a central control room. The system will also facilitate communication with bus driver, detail analyses of all bus related data, and customer information services.

The Rail Agency presented the complete project history and ambitions to the delegation and the challenges they combat as they introduce the first of its kind driverless metro in the region.

The Malaysian Delegation was overwhelmed with the technology adopted by the UAFC system and with the new Bus improvement plans and Dubai Metro. They thanked the RTA officials for sharing their proficiency and know-how.