Why do uae nationals don't use public transportation - Research Paper Example

In light of the recent calls to ban the use of private means of transport for people from lower economic classes in Abu Dhabi (Oueiti, 2014), it is clear that there are issues to be looked into surrounding the issue of transportation. This essay will look into some of the reasons as to why nationals of the UAE avoid public transportation and some of the proposed remedies for the situation. The main forms of transport in the countries of the UAE are buses and trams Olson, 2012). Different countries in the UAE are all facing similar issues with their public transport system.

That is, most of the nationals prefer to use private transport for commuting. As a result, officials report that there is congestion on their roads (Ruiz, 2013). Policy makers have because of this been forced to take drastic measures to encourage more commuters to make of the public transport system. For example, in Dubai, parking fees imposed on drivers of private cars have been raised (Bouyamourn, 2014) to discourage drivers from taking their cars to work. Apart from this is the ban on private transport for poor nationals in Abu Dhabi, also meant to encourage citizens to use public transport.

One of the reasons for the poor use of public transportation is the poor state of buses in the region. The main issue is the fact that the air-conditioned bus shelters are in dilapidated states. As such, many are completely out of order and closed down, while some have inadequate power (National Editorial, 2014). Given the fact that the UAE experiences hot summers, this presents a problem with commuters, who do not want to suffer from excessive heat. Commuters that use public transportation have cited this as the main disadvantage of the system.

In addition to this, the minimum standards of buses desperately need to be raised; commuters complain of unhygienic conditions. These factors make it hard to attract new users to the public