If you live in or around Al Satwa, Al Quoz or Mirdif, getting to the metro just got a bit easier. Dubai's Road and Transport Authority has added all three neighbourhoods to its Bus-On-Demand network, bringing the total number of areas covered by the service to 20.
Bus-On-Demand works differently to a fixed bus route. Passengers book their trip through a smart app, and the service adjusts its routes in real time based on where demand actually is, rather than running on a set timetable regardless of who needs it. For residents in areas that sit a little too far from a metro station to walk comfortably, or too awkwardly served by regular bus routes, it fills a practical gap in the day-to-day commute.
Fares are kept low to encourage use: trips start from Dhs5, dropping to Dhs4 per additional rider when passengers share a trip. That shared-trip pricing is clearly working as intended, if the numbers are anything to go by.
The RTA says the service carried more than 527,000 passengers in the first half of 2026, a 25.1 per cent increase on the same period last year. June 2026 was the single busiest month on record for the service, with 105,990 passengers using it. That kind of month-on-month growth suggests the service has moved well beyond a niche pilot and into something a meaningful number of Dubai residents now rely on as part of their regular commute.
The addition of Al Satwa, Al Quoz and Mirdif is not the end of the story. The RTA has said it plans further expansions, though it hasn't detailed which neighbourhoods might be next. Given how quickly ridership has climbed in areas already on the network, it wouldn't be surprising to see more added before the year is out.
For anyone in the newly added zones, the practical upside is straightforward: instead of waiting on a fixed bus schedule or hailing a taxi for a short last-mile trip, there's now a cheaper, app-based option that adapts to where people actually want to go. It's the kind of quiet infrastructure improvement that doesn't make headlines on its own, but adds up over hundreds of thousands of trips a year.
Reported by What's On.