UAE: A New Place For Cyclists!

The United Arab Emirates has its new added features! Could it get any more better?

Could next Amsterdam be Dubai? While it may now be renowned for its busy multi-lane motorways and speedy sports cars, the United Arab Emirates’ largest city aims to become a friendlier place for cyclists through a recent project launched by Sheik Hamdan, Dubai’s Crown Prince. The initiative is part of Dubai Vision 2021, which seeks to make the city one of the best places in the world for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UAE to stay, work and visit. Earlier this year, the public transport authority in Dubai launched a fleet of nearly 800 pay-as-you-go bicycles and was working in collaboration with Careem, a Dubai-based ride-sharing service that Uber acquired in 2019. Ultimately, when construction is finished in the next five years, 3,500 bicycles will be on the streets and can be docked at 350 solar-powered stations around the area. Since 2013, Dubai has had a bicycle sharing system, which was the first to implement one in the Middle East. This service contributes to Dubai’s sustainability initiatives and enables residents and visitors to enjoy an active and safe life, providing them with a modern transportation alternative that will boost accessibility across the region, “said Dubai Roads and Transport Authority director Mattar Mohammed Al Tayer in a statement in February to introduce the bike scheme. Dubai currently has 425 km of cycling tracks in the area, with plans to extend to nearly 650 km of cycling trails by 2023. This year, Expo 2020 was supposed to attract a significant number of tourists to Dubai, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was scheduled to launch in October 2021.