Chowrangi

The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is planning to launch water taxis in the middle of next year as part of its project to offer alternative modes of transport.

The service will be available on demand through phone booking, and passengers need to wait at an agreed station to board the water taxi.

The taxi service will travel along Dubai Creek and the Jumeirah coast, and there will be a line linking downtown Dubai with the Palm projects (Jumeirah, Deira and Jebel Ali) and The World. So far 20 locations are selected as pick-and-drop stations for the water taxis. These include Bur Dubai Station, Dubai Old Souq Station, Old Deira Souq Station, Al Sabkha Station, Bani Yas Station, Al Seef Station, the Floating Bridge Station, the Golf Club Station, Park Hyatt Hotel Station, and Dubai Festival City Station. They will also be available at Dubai Marina, Jebel Ali Golf Resort, Al Habtour Hotel, Grand and Royal Meridian Hotel, Jumeirah Hilton, and Jumeirah Sheraton stations.

Work on designing a model water taxi station has already begun and the project will be launched with ten boats costing Dh30 million.

The boats that are being introduced as water taxis, measure 10.8 metres in length and 4.1 metres in width. They can reach a speed of up to 35 knots and can run in waves rising up to 0.5 metre.

Each boat can accommodate 11 passengers in addition to the driver, and 20% of the seats will be retractable to allow room for the movement of wheel chairs of special-needs people.

Each boat has twin environmentally friendly diesel engines of 370 hp fitted with a water jet propulsion, and the interior will be air-conditioned. All seats will be fitted with life jackets and LCD monitors for entertainment.

Lets see when our government comes up with something innovative to resolved Traffic Jams in Karachi.

Source: Gulf News

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