School bus trips account for 13 percent of the total volume of traffic during the morning rush hours in Dubai, the Roads and Transport Authority, RTA, revealed on Sunday.

Statistics show that the number of students in public and private schools in Dubai in 2016 reached some 295,000 young people.

"The school transport centre witnessed a rapid growth, as school transport trips exceeded 81,000 students per hour and it is set to reach 115,000 trips per hour by 2020, and 176,000 trips per hour by 2030," said Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA.

"The number of school buses registered in the traffic system has reached 6,500, so far, and is expected to rise to 7,628 buses by 2020 and 14,455 by 2030," he added.

"The school transport sector in Dubai faces multiple challenges, including the geographical distribution of schools, where 62 percent of schools are located in Deira, and 38 percent in Bur Dubai, which results in high pressure on the road network adjacent to schools. Challenges also include the low percentage of school bus users, as reflected in its 11 percent share of total school trips, compared to 32 percent in the United States. This means that 88 percent of students in Dubai use private vehicles to travel to their schools, which would increase congestion and environmental pollution. This is aggravated by the low occupancy rate of school buses, with occupancy at 53 percent," elaborated Al Tayer.

"The RTA has upgraded the technical specifications of school buses and defined the responsibilities of operators, schools and parents, in order to improve safety and security. Through the comprehensive study for managing the demand on transport, the RTA is currently working on introducing flexi working hours to manage the staggering of working hours and school hours,'' he added.

According to Al Tayer, the RTA also intends to conduct a comprehensive study on the school transport sector to come up with solutions and guidelines related to the distribution of schools and their integration with the road and transport network, besides surveying school areas and developing traffic solutions. The civic body is also poised to enact legislations and incentive programmes to streamline the school transport sector and encourage students to use school buses and mass transit.