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19 March 2024

Dubai has double the cars than London

Number of vehicles currently on Dubai roads suggests that the vehicles equal 540 for every 1,000 residents. (NAJEEB MOHMMED)

Published
By Vicky kapur

Official figures announced yesterday by Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) reveal that the emirate has 1.4 million registered vehicles for a city with an official population of 2.35 million.

The data suggests that the number of vehicles on Dubai roads has almost doubled since 2006, when there were about 740,000 vehicles registered in the city.

Emirates 24|7 had reported in 2011 about the number of vehicles surpassing the one-for-two milestone five years ago.

Read: Dubai has one car for every two residents

We had then highlighted that Dubai had more than 1 million registered vehicles serving 1.9 million residents, according to the 2010 RTA data published by the Dubai Statistics Centre (DSC).

The number of vehicles currently on Dubai roads suggests that the vehicles equal 540 for every 1,000 residents, implying that the emirate has more cars per person than New York (305 per 1,000) or London (213 per 1,000).

This trend clearly highlights the growing need for more, extensive means of public transport even as the Metro and Tram have slightly eased the congestion on Dubai roads. In addition, a growing number of taxis too help to limit the number of private cars on the roads.

Still, residents lament that, given soaring summer temperatures, it is tough for them to walk to the nearest bus or Dubai Metro station, especially during the summer months.

In addition, while people tend to rent apartments in buildings near the Metro or Tram stations, the purpose is defeated if their workplaces too do not happen to be next to one.

Nevertheless, there is a combination of factors that has led to this trend of Dubai residents choosing cars than preferring to walk even a few steps to the public transport station.

#1 Cheap petrol. The UAE boasts of the fifth cheapest petrol prices in the world – in fact, we pay less than one-fifth of the money that consumers pay for petrol in Turkey, which has the world’s most expensive petrol prices.

Read: UAE retails 5th cheapest petrol

The last price hike in petrol prices – of 20 fils – was affected in July 2010, and the cost of fuel in the UAE has since remained constant at Dh1.72 ($0.46) per litre, one of the lowest in the world. This is one of the primary reasons why some residents do not have to think twice before shelling out the 25 per cent cash-down required to purchase a car here.

#2 Cheaper cars. With no major taxes levied for on-road cars, the price we pay for a car here in Dubai/UAE is much cheaper than what we would have paid for the same car in some other parts of the world. India, for instance, levies a 40 per cent one-time road tax on the value of the new car, which makes it quite expensive when compared to Dubai prices. This again is one of the primary reasons why residents choose cars to public transport.

#3 Lack of extensive public transport. Even as we widen our eyes at the Dubai-London comparison (540 cars per 1,000 persons in Dubai compared to 213 per 1,000 in London), we must look at the fact that the London Tube is one of the most extensive modes of transport in the world. It has 270 stations (compared to Dubai’s 49), covering a total route network of 402km (compared to Dubai Metro’s 75km).

In addition, London underground stations are farther than not more than 500 metres (as the crow flies) from another, which means that you will not have to walk more than 250 metres to your destination. Needless to say, Dubai has a long way to go but it must be added that it has the Gulf region’s busiest and most extensive public transport network.