Dubai’s RTA launches initiative to diversify transport workforce

Credit: Dubai's RTA

In an initiative considered the first of its kind in the Middle East region, the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has employed three women to work in the public transport sector as bus drivers as the transport authority looks to diversify its workforce and meet its goal of “safe and easy transportation for everyone”.

Ahmed Hashem Bahrouzian, Executive Director of the Public Transport Agency at the RTA, said: “This step is in line with international best practices for employing drivers, which allows more job opportunities for women in a field where men work much higher than women. In addition, this will enrich this sector with the female component and promote a culture of using mass transportation for customers of all segments of society and contribute to improving the services provided to them.

“The Roads and Transport Authority in Dubai is keen to be proactive in launching qualitative initiatives to enhance its leadership as the first government agency in the Middle East region to employ drivers in the public bus sector. This step comes from the principle of interest and empowerment that the RTA attaches to the women component and achieving the gender balance in all categories and job levels, to which the Commission attaches great importance.” 

He concluded that this initiative aims to strengthen the public transportation system as a whole and continue to improve and diversify the services provided by the authority.

The RTA currently operates 165 female drivers in the taxi sector, 41 the limousine sector, and one in the school transport sector, which the RTA hopes will increase once this workforce initiative is rolled out and expanded.