Dubai: Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced on Wednesday that the number of people who used mass transportation during Tuesday night’s New Year’s Eve celebrations reached 2,126,417, registering a 3.6 per cent increase year-on-year.
In total 907,411 riders used the Dubai Metro, 37,150 took the tram, 440,521 took the bus, while taxis transported 689,212 people and marine transport modes took 52,123 commuters.
Authorities had urged the public to use public transport on New Year’s and had laid on 210 free buses carry visitors to and from the Burj Khalifa fireworks to metro stations.
The RTA had also launched special offers and premium services to watch New Year’s Eve firework displays aboard marine transit modes, such as the Dubai Ferry, Waterbuses, Water Taxis and Abras.
It was predicted that more than 1.6 million would watch the fireworks in Dubai across 25 locations with 3,000 police personnel deployed along with 600 firefighters, 70 fire engines and 212 ambulances on duty. In total there were 16,700 parking lots available in the Burj Khalifa area plus an additional 3,000 nearby. There were also 4,500 taxis in service in the vicinity and metro timings had been extended to run 24 hours.
