Dubai’s wealth has afforded many things including horrible traffic congestion. Officials say its time to start curbing car ownership.
Dubai’s wealth has afforded it towering buildings, awe-inspiring tourism attractions, and, as of late, really horrible traffic congestion.
Along with the country’s economic rebound has come double-digit percentage increases in car purchases, and many of those vehicles are ending up on the roads at the same time.
Now, officials are thinking about ways to discourage the city’s car owners from driving.
The director general of Dubai Municipality said, “Everybody has their luxury life, but the capacity of our roads cannot take all of these cars without ownership laws.”
One of the ideas brought up for consideration is implementing minimum salary requirements for car ownership.
Another suggested way to deter some from driving is to charge more for parking, fuel, and insurance.
Awareness programs and carpooling have already been ruled out, but there is some hope that Dubai’s expanding availability of public transportation will catch on.
The city is currently testing out a new tram system, and is willing to expand its metro if it has a chance of helping with the car overpopulation problem.
A key factor in making it a success, says the director general, is getting younger generations to make use of it.
