Dubai - Mubasher: The Board of Directors of Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has endorsed a contract for procuring 554 environment-friendly hybrid vehicles, according to a statement.
Vehicles are fitted with a combination of fuel engine and electric motors, currently constitute about 11% of the fleet of the Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC).
The Dubai Taxi Corporation aims is targeting to beef-up the proportion of hybrid vehicles to 17% of its taxi fleet by the end of 2017, as it currently comprises 503 vehicles.
The move is part of a master plan to curb pollution from exhausts and make vehicles friendly to the environment of Dubai.
“The directives call for nurturing a safe, clean, attractive and sustainable environment capable of enhancing the image and profile of Dubai. The step illustrates RTA’s commitment to the master plan calling for curbing carbon emissions from the taxi sector by 2% as required by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and the Green Economy initiative," according to the director general and chairman of the board of executive directors of the RTA.
Mattar Al Tayer added that "the underlying objective of using hybrid vehicles operation is to support Dubai’s initiative themed ‘Green Vehicles for a Cleaner Environment,’ besides assessing the feasibility of using hybrid vehicles in the Dubai Taxi fleet.
“The RTA is the first government entity in the region to experiment with the operation of hybrid taxicabs fitted with electric-fuel engines in Dubai taxi from 2008 to 2011. Results of the experiment revealed that such vehicles had covered 550,000 kilometres without faults or requiring maintenance of major parts. Fuel efficiency reached 30 percent and carbon emission dropped by 30 percent as well," he further explained.
