Dubai Metro passenger volume broadly at pre-pandemic level, says operator

Dubai Metro passenger volume broadly at pre-pandemic level, says operator

The CEO of Keolis described Dubai's public transport system as 'highly resilient'

Published: Sun 6 Feb 2022, 6:11 PM

Dubai’s public transport system is highly resilient and as a result, the passenger numbers on the Dubai Metro have broadly reached the pre-pandemic level, said Bernard Tabary, CEO of Keolis, operator of the Dubai Metro and Dubai Tram.

In September 2021, Keolis was awarded a 15-year contract by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) to run operations of the driverless Metro and Tram network.

In 2019, the Dubai Metro had a total of 202.98 million passengers. The number dropped to 113.63 million in 2020 due to travel restrictions and work-from-home practice implemented following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease.

But Dubai successfully overcame the pandemic and became one of the world’s first cities to open after the pandemic with most of the economic and social activities resuming in 2021.

“Dubai’s metro was never stopped during the pandemic and it is amazingly clean. The infrastructure network, which is the backbone of Dubai, has served the city really well in the time of pandemic and it is serving well at the moment when we are coming out of the pandemic. We understand passenger volumes on Metro are quite high