Dubai Metro celebrates 2 billion passengers

More than two billion passengers have used the Dubai Metro since its launch on September 9, 2009.

The metro's red line transported 1.34 billion commuters while the green line served more than 673 million, Dubai Media Office said on Sunday.

It also said the metro has maintained a punctuality rate of 99.7 per cent and the average daily numbers of passengers was more than 616,000 last year.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, celebrated the achievement on Sunday in a tweet.

The number of passengers reached one billion in August 2017, almost eight years after the public carriage was started.

Sheikh Mohammed was the first to swipe the Metro's first ticket at exactly 9.09pm on September 9, 2009.

Sheikh Mohammed tweeted in Arabic: “The idea of Dubai Metro was not familiar to the region. Its culture was not acceptable, and its decision was not agreed upon by most of the officials. But responsibility required us to take an unusual and unacceptable decision. We accomplished what we promised, and we did what we said.”

It has a fleet of 129 modern trains, moving around 53 stations at an immaculate punctuality rate of 99.7 per cent.

The Metro's first stop was the Dubai International Financial Centre Station. Sheikh Mohammed placed a golden commemorative coin at the station. He was briefed by Mattar Mohammed Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, on the making of the coin to mark the historic event.

Sheikh Mohammed and other dignitaries boarded the Metro again and stopped at the station of Khalid Ibn Al Waleed, the underwater Al Ittihad, Terminal 3 of Dubai Airport and Al Rashidiya. Since the Dubai Ruler's first ride till today, the metro has expanded significantly.