Public Transport Insights and Innovations in the Middle East from UITP MENA

Join us as we delve into post COVID priorities of urban mobility, Abu Dhabi's 230 transportation plan, decarbonization of mobility, the impact of digitalization, and autonomous taxis in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We hope you will enjoy this episode and gain valuable perspectives from influential leaders of the mobility sector.

I would like to welcome everyone. So it's a, it's a great day. We are here in Dubai, at the occasion of UITP MENA Transport Congress and Exhibition. this event is being organized during last 10 years successfully, between UITP and, RTA, Dubai. And we are in the second day of this great event, and we are very pleased to, welcome all of our guests to the Transit Unplugged session taking place at, Modaxo stand. So today, we have three very high level speakers.

Actually, three leaders of mobility in the world. let me start, first introducing, Ms. Reneé Amilcar. Reneé is my former boss, when I was working for UITP. So you, when I mentioned the name of Reneé, the sound became better. So maybe it was waiting, the microphone or technicians were waiting that I introduce Reneé. So Reneé is the President of UITP. it's the first female president of the association, which is 140 years old. So, welcome Reneé. Thank you for joining us.

So, we have Mr . Mohammed Obeid Al Mulla, who is the board member of Roads and Transport Authority of RTA, and Mr. Mohammed Obeid Al Mulla is also the chairman of UITP MENA division. Welcome, Mr. Al Mulla. And, we have also a very important leader of transportation, from, Middle East, Mr. Abdulla Al Marzouqi. He is the Director General of Integrated Transport Centre ITC Abu Dhabi. Mr. Al Marzouqi, thank you so much, for joining us.

So Once again, thank you to all, for joining us for the Transit Unplugged session.

this is a CEO Round table that is taking place in the MENA Congress and, without going into the, without losing more time, I will just go with my questions, to our, distinguished panelists and I would like to start with Reneé. so Reneé, after the COVID 19, what we are observing is that we see that the transportation is changing a lot in all around the world. And what we are wondering is that how, as UITP, you are seeing the current trends and changing priorities about mobility in the world.

So, we already know that, COVID 19 has impacted a lot, transit, and, what we're seeing now, it's, different, you know, in Europe, example, I think the ridership is, back now and we can, easily observe, higher ridership than, 2019, it's the same thing in Asia, I think, and even here, the opportunity to, to speak, with, with the CEO of RTA and, I know that, the ridership is, increasing very well here as well.

Unfortunately, in America, it's a little bit different and, Canada, I mean, USA, and, if I can, talk about, Ottawa, where I'm working, it's very unfortunate because, first, we, a lot of federal workers, and those, those, workers were very, very engaged with the public transit because they used to go, they, they used to take, public transit to come to work, and now, since the pandemic, they're still at home, Because of those federal workers, unfortunately,

the ridership in Ottawa is, we are still approximately seven percent, from, when we compare with the, the pandemic.

And now, we discussed about the global changes, but now I think it's important to focus on the Middle East region. And then here we have the two leaders of the transport agencies of, of Middle East. I would like to start with Mr. Obaid Al Mulla, actually because they are the host of, this, this Congress here in Dubai.

Mr. Al Mulla, if you focus on the situation today, particularly after COVID, What kind of challenges you are observing in Dubai and what are your plans for the future to overcome from these challenges? Mohammed Obaid Al Mulla: First of all, I would like to thank all of you, congratulate everybody for, successful of, Congress of UITP in Dubai.

This is, last version and I think since it started, UITP, RTA from 2007 till now, we had, this is the last version, which is number five and I think Day by day, growing the public transport in Dubai and all over the world. It is one of the most important issues. It is the challenge which we are facing daily, especially when it comes to the development of the, manufacturer, especially focusing on the technology.

Since I started RTA, almost, it is 20 years, and I think the development going, taking place, One of the major issues is the population is growing in the Middle East, day by day, and affecting the plan, affecting the number of buses, number of spaces within the public transport. So based on this information, RTA is planning all the time ahead for the future, and the technology is developing day by day, and these are the challenges which we are facing.

Ready and plan for the future, even above expectation, because all the time, we are since it started, we are developing day and night to reach desirable people to satisfy them. On the other hand, to develop and grow with the people demand. These are the change, always the public transport, it is playing a big role in the Middle East, especially in Dubai these days. We are since it started, it was number of the people who use public transport was very small number.

Today, we are reaching over 22 percent of the people using public transport, and we are very proud that's around nearly 2 million people using public transport. Based on the demand of the people, people requirement, and we are at the service of the people, and we see the level of satisfaction on the eyes of the people. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Al Mulla.

now we have also, Mr. Al Marzouqi, joining us, and it won't be wrong if I call Abu Dhabi as a rising star in the mobility, in the, in the region, with very important, projects. And then what we know is that Abu Dhabi prepared a Transportation Mobility Management Plan for 2030. So my question is to you, Mr. Al Marzouqi, what are the key elements of Abu Dhabi's 2030 plan regarding objectives about transportation?

And I believe that each pillar have opportunity to enhance the quality of life and at the same time create opportunity for the private sector and for the government to ensure that they are delivering right. The first pillar in our mobility strategy is sustainability. We are committed in UAE on the sustainability. We are, extend our commitment to towards sustainability. This is the second year of sustainability. After, we are hosting the COP 28.

And, it is just to show that we are committed to sustainability to ensure quality of life. And Abu Dhabi. We start, I will give some example about one of the few steps we take regarding the sustainability. Already we start with our green, assessment program, which is to ensure that we are adapting in our, public transport electrical and hydrogen buses. We are targeting to have within the coming years to have Abu Dhabi as a green island. What do I mean by a green island?

An island that can be served by electrical or friendly buses and public transport. The second pillar is safety, because the safety of people is very important. And this is a very, very important pillar. Abu Dhabi was recognized as one of the safest capitals in the world. And one of the responsibility to maintain this position is to ensure safety within the mobility. Third, which is I think that something to touch the life of everyone, how we can have smart mobility.

Smart mobility is not about having a smart application. Smart mobility is to do all the operation in a very smart way, ensuring that efficiency, effectiveness, and ensuring added value for our main people in our city. We are, for example, in Abu Dhabi, always we are proud, even in UAE, that we are a big family of 200 nationalities. Everyone come with expectation, with a dream.

And our duty in ITC, for example, in Abu Dhabi, to ensure that everyone have the right service, that can, can, from that service, he can achieve his dream. He feel that he is in second home. He can grow his family in very safe and sustainable and smart environment. So mobility can make your day good or can make your day bad.

So we are targeting very small mission that every day we can, we need to make the, your, your mood is very good by avoiding congestion, provide alternative for you and easy of doing business and to reach your work in very good mood. So I think any boss can, have the same.

I think I go back to Reneé, because one of the key trends now what we see in the mobility in the world is digitalization. So, the agencies all around the world, they use the technology more and more day by day. So, how do you see digitalization could be helping to the authorities and operators in it? Because you were also leading a bus company in Canada. So, how do you use it as well?

And even if I compare it just with Ottawa, we didn't have the deferred payment, the open permit, in the past. And very quickly we came with that and we can pay now with our credit card or debit card, which is great because we don't need it anymore to exchange tickets, you know. And, I think definitely it's the trend. It's important for public transit. It's important as well to listen to our customers because we have to bring some new technologies.

We have to bring those tools, but we have to listen to them because we have to accommodate them.

And we have to make sure that they can follow us as well, because at the end of the day, they want to go from the point A to B and they need those technologies, they want them to make their lives easier, but they want as well to be non captive, they want to stay passive, because you know, most of the time they are still sleeping when they take the transit, and they want the transfer to be very easy, so we have to think about it absolutely.

And I want to start with, I mean, Mr. Al Mulla on this one, because he was one of the leaders who made the transformation in the taxi transport in Dubai. I mean, what is currently the role of taxis in urban transport in Dubai? And then how do you see it as future? Because Dubai is now even also implementing autonomous, cars in the taxi transport and so on. Mohammed Obaid Al Mulla: I think, taxi industry in Dubai or in any place in the world playing a big role.

For the connectivity and connecting between all the modes of transport, the flexible, it is a taxi. And, if you go any city in the world, any city, first of all, you don't know how, how to reach any place. So you, you, what you do, you get a taxi. And now, the taxi is affected by the technology, especially when it comes to the, involvement of the demand of the taxi through your telephone, through your mobile. So you, it, it's affected in deep.

And I think limousine is playing also a big role in any city. The number of limousine is growing more than the taxi all over the world. And I think this is also the normal because of the technology is taking place in the pocket of the people or in the life of the people because you have your, your pocket is full of the, the, the information about the, anything you require.

So your telephone is reaching anything based on this, I think taxi industry you need to have, lots of, the development in terms of the technology because technology is growing up everywhere in the world, so you're required to have even high tech, high tech, high technology for high touch, so you need to have driver also to be upgraded because these are the most important element that most of the area around the world, they're taking care of the car, they forgot about the driver.

The driver needs also training, the driver needs also customer service, should be oriented. And on the other hand, you're required to also to focus on what's required on the taxi for the people demand. So you need to have, now I think, taxis around the world, especially in the UAE, playing a big role with the security. Because now, the taxi driver is moving around 400 to 500 up to 600 kilometers. So they have lots of information about everything.

And there is also huge, involvement of, information which we transfer from the taxi to another organization, which is, gives a lots of information. These are the things, it is a part of the security. And I think, this is something, is a very, in advance to have in any place in the world to help any entities that they require Anything related to the maintenance, related to the street lighting, related to the also anything related to, to other organizations. Thank you. so much, Mr. Al Mulla.

Now, I think, I want to continue with the same direction with Mr. Al Marzouqi, because Abu Dhabi, you are also very ambitious in terms of the driverless taxis. And then you put the first driverless taxi, if I'm not wrong, in Yas Island. It works now.

I'm wondering what's the initial reaction of the riders, users about this driverless taxi experience in Abu Dhabi and in Maybe you can also add some fevers about your objectives regarding, further digitalization of the mobility in the city of Abu Dhabi.

This is the reason we came with our partner to start the AV cars in Yas. And I will not say it's commercially, but it was fully operated. And our record, we ran it for more than one year. And this support us first enhance our regulation. Enhance our understanding about this technology because we saw that some of the technology, we keep discussing it in very high level. I think, put it in the trial, make everything clear. And this is what we did in Abu Dhabi.

We put it in operation for one year, we collected a lot of information, we enhanced a lot of surface, and we believe that we are ready now by the regulation that already issued. And with the partner network we created by this trial. and the preparation of the team regarding the, gain of a lot of knowledge and the skills. We are ready to launch it as even commercially. And I believe that, you know, people, they like something new.

You know, all the new generation, they are doing a lot of things in, computer, phones, AVs, whatever. So, I think that we are providing something. It will not change, by the way, the, the taxi game, or it's not game changer, but it's very important element will be in any city that to have the service. Which is already implemented in Abu Dhabi.

Regarding the smart technology in public transport and taxi, I can, I totally agree with Ubaid here, that the taxi is the first, it can create a good impression about the city or not. In Abu Dhabi and Dubai, for example, one of the main, uh, users is our, uh, tourism that come into the city. And a lot of them is coming for the first time. So we need to ensure that usually the first comer for any city, he use the taxi.

We need to ensure that this service is comfortable, clean, and we are training our driver to ensure to be our ambassador to introduce the city in very, very good way because they can build the impression for the people. You know, this is a big challenge. If you build a impression negative about the city, you will be not able to attract more visitors for your city, which is against our strategy.

In Abu Dhabi and UAE, mainly, we are trying all the time to ensure that all the domains, it's ready to welcome everyone to work, to visit, to live in Abu Dhabi and in UAE. So one of them is the taxi. So smart taxi. Smart training for the drivers is something mandatory and we are keeping watching this in a very close manner.

So I'm in the last round of questions, but I will not ask a specific question in the last round. I would like to ask our speakers, in case you have any additional points that you would like to raise, maybe we can do a very quick tour, if there is anything that you want to add on, on what we discussed before we close, Reneé, maybe. Any message that you would like to give as a UITP president before we close?

First of all, I would like to A very important message for the, everyone that public transport, whether people they like or they don't like, at the end, public transport will take responsibility at any city because most of the people, they're facing a lot of challenges. And I think with any city require, a backbone, which is the most important issue. It's the metro. On the other hand, without metro, without metro, bus cannot, cannot work. Without bus, metro cannot work.

So these two modes of transport, it's interrelated, so require both of them should be in any city, and then you cannot evaluate any city without metro. So that means backbone. On the other hand, taxi and limousine and monorail and also the other mode of transport is helping these major two towards any city. So the bus require dedicate line to reach on punctuality, taking responsibility of the time, taking responsibility of the comfortability, affordability, also something very important.

Any city to want to be succeed, they need to have to make successful the public transport. Public transport require also huge, dedicate line. On the other hand, I would like to mention that Dubai also facing the, in the future. taxis, and maybe it goes to other modes of transport.

And I think in the future also, because of the technology is getting developed every day, day by day, so maybe bus, the metro, the tram, the other mode, the limousine, and also taxis will take place in the city, in the city without driver. Not now, but in the future.

We are asking you to support us by building a strength partnership. And I believe that the future, they mentioned that if you want to go fast, you go alone. If you want to go far, you go together. So I'm requesting everyone participating in this event and UITP is to come together in Abu Dhabi and UAE Let's walk far in this journey about what the level of mobility we need to create in our city.

Let's go far, and we are ensuring that in ITC we are willing to listen for a new idea, to adopt any new technology, and to whatever enhance the experience in Abu Dhabi, we are committed to discuss and explore and to do it, to bring it to the capital of UAE. So, Please, you are most welcome to come to ITC, to Abu Dhabi, let's go together, let's go far in this journey and to achieve something maybe the first time achieved in the mobility sector. Thank you.

and what I can tell is that you will be able to visit the Transit Unplugged website that you can be, later on, listen, this, this, this, this panel, discussion and we will have, a paper about the summary of what was discussed here to share and disseminate with The further people.

. Tris Hussey: Hi, this is Tris Hussey editor of the Transit Unplugged podcast. Thank you for listening to this special bonus episode. The live CEO round table recorded at UITP MENA Transport Congress and Exhibition that was held in Dubai. Now stay tuned because we have another special episode that was recorded at the UITP MENA conference and expo. It'll be coming up later this month in April.

If you want to stay in touch with everything that's going on with Transit Unplugged on social media or newsletter or Transit Unplugged TV, make sure you visit trends and unplugged.com. You can sign up for the newsletter. Check out our social profiles and catch up on some episodes you might have missed in the past. Transit Unplugged is brought to you by Modaxo. At Modaxo, we're passionate about moving the world's people. And at Transit Unplugged, we're passionate about telling those stories.

So until next time, ride safe and ride happy.