DSF 2011: Demand for Sharjah-Global Village buses

Earlier, there was a direct route before last year but the service didn’t resume since last fair, leaving people in the lurch. Being the only affordable option for those who don’t have a vehicle, the non-availability of direct bus route greatly disappoints many. “Since there is no direct bus, I can’t imagine to visit Global Village because I don’t have a car and I can’t afford a taxi trip up and down,” said Javed Siddique, urging authorities to start the route.

Aravind Iyer, father of two children, said his kids have been longing to visit the Global Village but the thought of taking such a long journey from Rolla, where he lives, holds him up.

“The only way I can go right now is by taking a Dubai-Sharjah bus and then hopping on to a bus from Gold Souq or Al Ghubaiba to the Global Village. But that will at least take three hours one way,” said Iyer.

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) currently operates Route104, the only bus route to Global Village, which starts from the Gold Souq in Deira via Al Ghubaiba. The bus service starts at 3pm daily and runs every hour. However, the fare of Dh10 pulls many people back from that too.

Furat Al Amri, the Director of Buses at RTA’s Public Transport Agency, admitted that RTA is aware of the demand for a direct route from Sharjah. He, however, hinted that it’s not likely to start a bus route this year.

“We are aware of the demand and we would want to start the service but we have not been able to work it out so far,” Al Amri said.

Saeed Abdallah, Head of Corporate Communication at Sharjah Transport, said that Sharjah Transport has no problem running a direct bus route from Sharjah to the Global Village, if there is a request from the Roads and Transport Authority.

“Sharjah Transport had already done this before last year when a direct bus route was operated from Sharjah to the Global Village with mutual cooperation from RTA, and in response to their request.”

Abdallah said RTA did not request a direct bus route from Sharjah to the global village this year. “Should they request the service this year, Sharjah Transport is more than ready to respond in a positive way for the interest and convenience of the public,” he said.