The unplanned visit of Sheikh Mohammed to the Dubai Tram station shows that he was one of the most active leaders to supervise the blooming matters regarding the public transport delivery in Dubai and the further evolvement of the city.
Recently, some lucky Dubai Metro and Tram commuters received a surprise visit in the form of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who stopped into one of the Tram stations of the city.
The Roads and Transport Authority of Dubai posted a video where the Sheikh Mohammed could be seen on the Tram platform talking with officials. The visit was an extension of his endeavor to individually monitor the growth and operational progress of the systems of transportations in Dubai as one of its major public systems. A number of the residents were able to have a glimpse of the Dubai Ruler on his trip.
Since 2014, when the Dubai Tram was launched, it has carried over 60 million passengers. The 42 minute line runs between Al Sufouh Station and the Jumeirah Lakes Towers Station serving 11 stations along Al Sufouh road. It connects important areas such as Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Knowledge Village, Dubai Media City, Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) and Dubai Marina and is fully interconnected to the Dubai Metro.
In 2024, RTA said it is considering the launch of a trackless tram at eight positions in Dubai. The self-driving, electric-powered, rail-free mode of transport would not be guided by rail like other modes of transport instead depending on camera-based lane tracking systems that follows a path of virtual route.
This is not the first however that Sheikh Mohammed has taken the public transport. Utterly known to deploy his hands-on leadership style, as well as guaranteeing quality, he was also spotted using the Dubai Metro in 2023. Indeed, in 2020, he opened the extension of Route 2020, which is one of the main routes linking the city with the expo 2020 destination directly.
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Even Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of Defence of the UAE, rode the Metro in 2020 celebrating the anniversary of its opening and publicizing it with his own experience online, underling the necessity of green city transportation means.
The highly transformative project intended to improve interconnectivity in the city is the development of the Blue Line of the Dubai Metro, which Sheikh Mohammed had laid the foundation stone earlier this year. After its completion, the Blue Line will feature the largest metro station in the world, which remains one of the greatest achievements of the current transport growth in Dubai.
Dubai Metro Blue Line, stretching 30 kilometres, will have 14 stations, 15.5 kilometres of the track being underneath the surface and 14.5 being above the ground. It shall also have major interchange hubs with the already existing Red and Green Lines. The RTA estimates that the Blue Line will be functional in 2029.