The Department of Municipalities and Transport in Abu Dhabi’s Integrated Transport Centre (ITC) today announced the unification of the bus transportation service throughout the city and its suburbs in an effort to encourage citizens to use public transportation buses more regularly.
By reducing and simplifying the tariff structure, the service will be able to serve a larger geographic area. Dh2 will be the base service charge, with an extra five fils each kilometer.
The user-friendly, streamlined pricing system aims to improve Abu Dhabi public transportation consumers’ overall experience.
This falls within the umbrella of the ITC’s ongoing initiatives to promote mass transit use, address the rising demand for public transportation, and improve integration between its lines to deliver more effective and efficient services.
Additionally, ITC revised its tariff to make a bus card permit effective from the date of purchase and broadened the geographic reach of public transport permits to encompass the “basic service” in all regions of the emirate (excluding cross-city services). Two permits will be available: one for Dh35, good for seven days, and another for Dh95, good for thirty days.
This day, February 28, will mark the start of the updated permit sales.
Starting on February 27, permits under the former system will no longer be sold. All permits that have already been issued will remain valid within the island until they expire, but they will not cover basic services.
ITC clarified that passengers using public transportation buses could switch between services twice using a maximum of three buses, excluding cross-country trips, without paying Dh2 (the boarding fee) a second time. They can also log on to the other services within 60 minutes of the last check-out and refrain from switching in the opposite direction of the trip route.
There are additional switching requirements when switching between public transportation bus services and the Abu Dhabi Link service.
It was noted that the “Hafalat” smart card needs to be swiped on the automatic payment machine at the bus gates both when boarding and when getting off for it to be counted as one trip when switching between buses or utilizing more than one bus per journey in accordance with the contractual requirements.
Fines
The exchange mechanism will not be used if the card is not swiped while getting off, resulting in the full cost of the bus trip being deducted. It should be mentioned that the user may be subject to fines for utilizing public transportation if they forget to swipe their smart card each time they board and disembark.
The center noted that public transit passes are available at discounted rates for low-income national families who receive assistance from social programs run by the Abu Dhabi Social Support Authority or the Ministry of Community Development.
The center attested to the fact that the following will not change: In addition to the Dh500 annual permit for students, free annual permits are available for the elderly and people with initiative. These permits cover the “basic service” in all areas of the emirate (services between cities are not included), and under-10-year-olds ride for free.
It was mentioned that around 83 million passenger trips were made on public transportation buses in 2023. At the end of the previous year, there were 825 public transportation buses in Abu Dhabi. All of them had cutting-edge features, improved fuel efficiency, and were environmentally friendly.
