RAS AL KHAIMAH // An overhaul of public transport in Ras al Khaimah will include a fleet of new buses, passenger boats and VIP cabs. The RAK Transport Authority will add 100 buses on five routes to fight increasing traffic congestion. New stations will be built in Nakheel and Digdaga and a third will operate from the taxi station at the city's entrance near Emirates Road. The new buses will service town and rural areas and provide connections with other emirates.
The authority said the city buses - seating 15, 26 or 35 passengers - will be running by the new year. Buses running between RAK and other emirates will seat either 35 or 50 passengers. In the longer term, the authority is planning to extend the routes within the emirate and to the Musandam Peninsula. The authority also plans to introduce a fleet of air-conditioned passenger boats, or "aqua buses", on RAK Creek. They would link Manar Mall and other locations.
"These boats are the next step. It would probably be started early next year," said Jason Farhat, the authority's director of commercial and investment affairs. Depending on how successful the boats are, their use could be extended down the coastline. The authority is finalising a study of the emirate's transport needs, but has already started changing the system. This year it launched three taxi companies: Al Hamra Taxis, Al Arabiya Taxi and Cars Taxi. Those companies are to expand to a total fleet of 1,600 by the end of 2009.
"We will also have higher-class VIP taxis to the airport for corporate needs," Mr Farhat said. To address problems created by new drivers unfamiliar with the emirate's roads, the authority has begun a training programme that it hopes will transform drivers into guides, with "specialised training in mapping, distances, and communication", Mr Farhat said. "We don't call them drivers. When we train them they are stewards. They assist, they communicate. In the final stages of training they will give you the culture of RAK, take you to places that you as a tourist expect to visit and even suggest restaurants and hotels. They will be tourist guides for RAK."
The first crew of these taxi tour guides will be on the road by the end of next month. The old yellow-and-white taxis are being phased out by the Government. Those cabs will no longer be allowed to operate after the end of this year. Models from 2005 and 2006 were granted six-month extensions. The authority is phasing them out "gradually because we don't want to leave the public without another option", said Mr Farhat.
The drivers, some of whom say their salaries will go down because of the changes, will be offered jobs with the new companies. "They are knowledgeable. They are aware of the local culture," said Mr Farhat. "We opened our hands for them to come and join us. We will offer them better routes and better shifts." azacharias@thenational.ae
