Integrating marine transport with other public transport modes in Dubai

Abstract

This paper discusses the proposed approach for the development of a procedure to provide integration between Marine Stations and different transportation modes in Dubai. Five case studies of existing and proposed marine stations were conducted in order to reach an integration scheme for each one of them. The considered stations contain a mix of different marine transportation modes' stations, located on both sides of Dubai's Creek, tourist and commuter routes, and different land uses surrounding the stations. The case studies results have been used in order to suggest a procedure to be followed and integration items for the overall system of marine transport. A priority list has been proposed to assist decision makers to choose the most effective integration component according to budget availability. It is clearly observed that the best way to achieve integration is to build a multimodal transportation station (transportation hub), however, this approach should be adopted in the early planning stages starting with the Master Plan stage thus it can't be adopted in case of existing stations. In addition, in some cases it is difficult to build multimodal stations to achieve integration within marine modes due to the limitation of locating marine stations to the shoreline and along the waterways, while Metro lines are rigid and not easy to be adjusted. Air-conditioned bridges and tunnels are used to make the walking environment more convenient for pedestrian to walk between different stations. Pedestrian flow and safety are the main items to identify/justify the suggested integration components to insure the cost effectiveness of the solution, however there are other items addressed in the study to prioritize the implementation of suggested solutions through quantitative method.