RTA reports 35% increase in Dubai’s public transport ridership in 2022

Credit: Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced that the ridership of public transport means comprising the Dubai Metro, Dubai Tram, public buses, marine transport (abra, ferry, water taxi, water bus), shared mobility (e-hail, smart car rentals, bus-on-demand) and taxis (Dubai Taxi and franchise companies’ taxis) amounted to 621.4 million riders in 2022.

The figure reflects an increase of 35% when compared to the ridership numbers in 2021, which had reached 461 million riders. Equally, the average daily ridership of public transport, shared mobility and taxis clocked 1.7 million riders in 2022, compared to 1.3 million riders in 2021. 

His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer, Director General, Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of RTA, said: “Dubai Metro acquired the largest percentage of the public transport, shared transport and taxis ridership in 2022, amounting to 36% up by 3% from the 2021 level of 33%. It is a good indicator of people shifting to public transport modes that serve a growing number of riders.”

While public bus ridership had reached 25%, marine transport riders increased from 2% in 2021 to 3% in 2023. Meanwhile, shared mobility modes and Dubai Tram maintained their ridership levels, which amounted to 5% for shared transport and 1% for Dubai Tram. In addition, March 2022 recorded an all-time high monthly ridership touching 62 million, followed by December 2022 which had seen 57 million riders. Ridership rates in other months ranged from 46 to 56 million. 

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Public transport and shared mobility means, as well as taxis, had made 129 million trips in total, with 105 million for taxis, 18.5 million for shared mobility, four million for buses, 936 thousand for marine transport, 450 thousand for Dubai Metro and 99 thousand trips for Dubai Tram. October 2022 had been the busiest month in terms of the number of trips, recording 11.9 million trips, followed by March 2022 with 11.8 million trips. The numbers of trips in other months varied from 9.7 million to 11.6 million trips.

Figures released by RTA’s Data Statistics and Analysis Section at the Enterprise Command and Control Centre indicated that the number of riders using Dubai Metro’s Red and Green Lines amounted to 225.1 million riders in 2022. 

Furthermore, Dubai Tram had carried 7.5 million riders, public buses had carried 157.3 million, marine transport had carried 16 million, shared mobility had carried 32.5 million and taxis had served a staggering 183 million passengers.

The annual ridership figures of public and shared mobility means, as well as taxis, reflect the efficient plans and programmes that have been undertaken by RTA to provide diverse mobility options that cater to the needs of Dubai’s residents and visitors. The numbers also demonstrate the integrated public transport network, which has become the backbone of residents and visitors’ movement around the city.