Round the clock Metro opening for Eid, weekends

Additional bus routes and parking spaces arranged for Eid holidays

Dubai: The Dubai Metro will run for close to 24 hours on weekends and the Eid holidays during the October 18 to November 2 ‘Eid in Dubai’ celebrations.

According to the public transport operations scheduleby the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) for this period, buses and water buses and water taxis will also work extended hours, with additional routes and more trips.

Special arrangements have been made with all the shopping malls and popular hotspots in Dubai, which will operate 24 hours on weekends and the Eid holidays falling between October 18 and November 2.

Complementing the celebrations, Metro will run from 5.30am to 4am on Thursdays and Eid holidays and from 10am to 4am on Fridays.

According to Ramadan Abdullah, Director of Metro Operations at RTA, the October 18 -19 weekend will be the first of the three weekends that will see trains operating on new timings.

“We will have trains running at every 3 minutes 30 seconds and we will also have a few trains on standby. As and when necessary extra trains will be inserted to meet the increasing demand,” said Abdullah talking about the preparations for Eid.

The next weekend, which coincides with the Eid holidays will see trains operate on new timings for four days —Thursday (October 25), Friday, Saturday as well as Sunday.

The last weekend of the ‘Eid in Dubai’ celebrations falls on November 1 and 2, when the trains will again operate for 22 hours 30 minutes and 18 hours respectively. November 1 will also be the RTA’s free transport day.

Eisa Abdul Rahman Al Dossary, CEO of RTA’s Public Transport Agency (PTA), said buses will also run extended hours with some feeder buses running for 24 hours.

“We will have bus and Metro schedules displayed at every mall so that people know when exactly the buses are moving. All information about additional buses and routes will also be available for people at malls and stations,” said Al Dossary.

Additional buses, water buses are being deployed for this period with special routes also planned for popular destinations to meet the demand. As many as 23 bus routes will feed the Metro stations to bring up the total number of buses deployed during the events to 108.

Special bus routes have been planned between Al Seef and Khalid Bin Waleed Metro station, and to Global Village from Al Ghubaiba and Etisalat Metro station. A bus route will also be introduced between Creek Park and Oud Metha Metro station.

Water taxi timings at Festival City and Dubai Marina have also been extended to 24 hours.

Around the popular malls, parks and amusement areas special parking arrangements have been made to accommodate extra shoppers and visitors while shuttle bus services have also been introduced to reach different locations.

RTA has also adjusted traffic lights around the mall areas like Dubai Mall, Festival City, Deira City Centre, Mall of the Emirates and Marina Mall, etc, to ease congestion.

Trains and buses will run normal operation hours on weekdays.