S. African Minister Hails RTA Practices In Curbing Gridlocks, Examines Salik Toll Gate System

Al Tayer: Salik slashed trip time on Sheikh Zayed Road by 60%

His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board & Executive Director of the Roads & Transport Authority (RTA) has recently received at RTA Head Office H.E. Sibusiso Ndebele, Minister of Transport in the Republic of South Africa and the accompanying delegation in the presence of several RTA executives.

The delegation was keen on examining RTA’s approach to relieving traffic congestion, developing mass transit systems and encouraging the public to migrate to using public transport means. It also reviewed RTA’s practice in implementing the toll gate system (Salik) and the contribution of the system to the smooth flow of traffic and the distribution of vehicular traffic to outer routes off the downtown area.

"The Toll Gate System (Salik), which has been in place since 2007, is one of the policy tools adopted by the RTA to leverage its long-term objective of encouraging the use of public transport systems. The System has been introduced following specialized studies conducted under RTA’s Strategic Plan for coping with the traffic congestion issue. The practical results of the System indicate a huge improvement in the traffic movement as the trip time on Sheikh Zayed Road has dipped by 60% after the implementation of the System. It also contributed to the re-routing of traffic flow on the Creek crossings as a big chunk of vehicles, which used to travel across Al Maktoum & Al Garhoud Bridges, has shifted to the Business Bay Crossing; which is now operating at 77% of its designed capacity whereas it has been operating by 30% only before the system was introduced. Studies also revealed that Salik system contributed to the migration of about 2.5 million persons from using private vehicles to mass transit systems in 2011," elaborated Al Tayer.

The South African Minister of Transport also reviewed the operational mechanism of the Toll Gates; which are fitted with sensors that deduct the toll from the balance contained in the magnetic tag affixed to the windshield of the vehicle without having to stop or slow down. Should there be no tag in the car or balance in the account, cameras mounted on the Gate will capture images of the vehicle and report an offence against the user. The Minister was also familiarized with the services offered by the RTA to Salik subscribers such as the subscription to the service, selling outlets of Salik tags, top-up cards, and the Call Center.

For his part, H.E. Sibusiso hailed RTA’s speedy construction of the Dubai Metro and road projects, renovation of the public bus fleet, and integration of mass transit systems. The South African Minister was impressed with the modern technologies used in Salik system and the handy services rendered to the users of the System.

Emirate:  Dubai

Date: Apr 7, 2012

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