Comparison Between Public Agency of Transportation in Dubai and New York

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The agencies of Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) serve a region of nearly 14.6 million people that spreads across 13,000 km² or 5,000 square miles in the 2 Connecticut and 12 New York Counties. Moreover, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) have more than 8.5 million customers every day that equals to approximately 2.6 billion bus and rail customers annually and have approximately 65,000 employees as workers (Perry, 2013). Besides Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the New York State Department of Transportation also works to provide its customers with the transportation system that is safe, efficient, environmentally sound and balanced (Great Britain: Department for Transport, 2004). The New York State Department of Transportation is responsible to fulfill its responsibilities, duties and functions that include developing and coordinating comprehensive policy of transportation for the State; assisting and coordinating in the operation and development of transportation services and facilities for railroads, highways, mass transit systems, waterways, ports and aviation services; and, keeping and formulating current, comprehensive and a long-range statewide master plan that ensures the balanced development of private and public general and commuter transportation facilities (Great Britain: National Audit Office, 2007). Moreover, the New York State Department of Transportation administers the public safety program for motor carriers and railroads affianced in intrastate commerce; directs the state regulation of transportation carriers in relation of services and rates; and, provides oversight in issues regarding the safe operation of commuter railroads, bus lines and subway systems which are subsided publicly by the Public Transportation Safety Board (OECD, 2010).

3.0 Comparison of transportation in Dubai and New York

The New York City’s transportation system is a collection of complex systems with respect to infrastructure (Great Britain: National Audit Office, 2007). As the New York City is one of the most populous city of US, therefore, it has large transportation system, roads, PATH, railways etc. In addition, New York City has low personal automobile ownership due to which significance of using public transportation has increased (Brunn, 2011). One of the most used and dominant means of transportation include rail that is quick extensive network. The rail transport is managed by the different government agencies. Moreover, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) administers all the subways and buses of the New York City and two out of three commuter rail system. In addition to this, the New York City Subway is the largest subway system internationally (Great Britain: Department for Transport, 2004). The subway system of New York is managed more efficiently due to which its users are increasing day by day. Moreover, PATH or Port Authority Trans-Hudson is also used as a transportation system in New York City. The PATH links Manhattan to Hoboken, Jersey City, Newark and Harrison, in New Jersey. Besides this, another important and extensive means of transportation system in New York is the commuter rail system that serves more than 150 million commuters with its 250 stations annually in the US’s tri-state region (OECD, 2010). The MTA operates commuter rail system on the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad and Connecticut (Great Britain: National Audit Office, 2007). The system of buses in the New York City is also very extensive as it uses more than 5,900 buses that carry more than 2.01 million passengers on daily basis through 30 express routes and 200 local routes. Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) holds control on about 80% of the New York City’s mass transit.

In contrasts, the Roads and Transport Authority in Dubai administers the requirements of roads & traffic, and transport in the Dubai, between Dubai and in other regions of the UAE. As Dubai has increased attraction of foreign earnings, the transportation network of the region is also ensured to be of highest standards (Perry, 2013). Therefore, the city has different transportation system that is aligned with the Dubai’s vision & serves important interests of the United Arab Emirate. The different means of transportation for which Roads and Transport Authority is responsibilities include taxis, busses, Inter-City Transport, Marine Transport, Roads Engineering, public buses, Registration & Licensing, rail projects, Roads Beautification Roads & Parking and traffic safety (Cole, 2005). One of the largest transportation modes in Dubai managed by the Roads and Transport Authority is the bus system that has more than 193 routes and carries more than 30 million individuals on weekly basis. Although, the Public Transport bus system in Dubai is very advanced and huge, but it does not have enough number of people to whom the services can be provided (Oxford Business Group, 2008). Therefore the busy areas of the Dubai have more commuters who after they have finished their jobs in the evening wait for greater than an hour to board on the bus; however, at that point the number of buses that are to be used for the conveyance does not rise in relation to the same rate of its commuters that has affected the bus system. However, to cater this problem, the Roads and Transport Authority has announced about 1616 new buses will be provided in Dubai which is the world record (Brunn, 2011). Moreover, the newly purchased buses are of different models and sizes that are manufactured at highest safety and security standards. Moreover, the buses will consist of latest technologies like passenger counting system, next stop voice announcement, external & internal display monitors and bus-positioning system connected with the Roads and Transport Authority Control Center. In addition, Dubai has a huge taxi system that is also the most used public transport. The taxis are of both private cab organizations and government-operated companies. Moreover, due to increased traffic congestion, more road networks are built to meet the increasing need of the Dubai traffic. Basically, Dubai is currently suffering from a faulty road system which has ingrained bottlenecks on some specific key routes like road of Dubai-Sharjah (Cole, 2005). However, the recent road infrastructure that also includes Dubai Metro, composite of flyovers and the new bridges are being built to meet the traffic demand. Roads and Transport Authority also manages the Dubai Metro that is currently operated through two lines (Brunn, 2011). The project of Dubai metro was stated in 2005 where it was assigned to the Dubai Rapid Link which is a consortium headed by the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The metro red line has around 29 stations; whereas the green line has about 18 stations (Oxford Business