Dubai: The Salik toll system should not have been introduced until construction on alternative roads was complete and a comprehensive public transport system, including the Dubai Metro was in place, said traffic and transport experts.
"I believe the main aim of introducing the toll is to decrease the number of vehicles on particular roads and to encourage people use public transport or share cars ... but it does not work well if we do not provide options for public to commute," said Professor Douglas Cousino, Department Chair in the Civil Engineering Department at the Dubai Men's College of Higher Colleges of Technology.
Cousino said although there is a need to regulate traffic on Al Garhoud and Al Maktoum bridges to ease congestion, there is a greater need to first improve alternative roads, many of which are still under construction.
He said a toll is a common tool anywhere in the world, including the United States and Europe, to decrease number of cars on roads but again there are transportation options available for public.
The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced two more toll gates. RTA announced on Monday to have new Salik toll gates operational from September 9 on Al Maktoum Bridge and between the First and the Second Interchanges on Shaikh Zayed Road.
Motorists have been paying toll since July last year for crossing the toll gates on Al Garhoud Bridge and Shaikh Zayed Road near Mall of the Emirates.
Another university professor who does not wish to be named said Salik toll gates are being introduced in a hurry.
"You are justified to charge toll from motorists but first give them options of public transport and alternative roads," he said.
"Concept of charging toll is right but it is being done wrongly and at the wrong time," he said, adding that it should come, if it has to, as part of a total transport plan wherein people are given options of other modes of transportation.
He said the RTA needs to conduct an independent study without comparing Dubai with any other city in the world because Salik toll gates are causing traffic congestions on rest of the city roads.
"Yes, there is toll system in many other cities but it was done only after the people were given the options to commute," he said.
Kareem Malek, a motorist, who lives in Deira, said people living across the creek hardly have any options of transportation.
Al Ittihad Road, the main highway linking Sharjah and Dubai, is under construction, causing traffic jams, while work continues at the interchange on Beirut Road and Al Shindagha tunnel is already congested.
"Once the new toll gates are installed on Al Maktoum bridge, motorists will have to use Salik gates because the immediate alternative - the floating bridge - remains closed from 10pm to 6am," he said.
He suggested that toll should be charged only during peak hours and not round the clock.
Mass transit options
Omar Al Busaidy, an Emirati, said the toll system should not have been introduced without giving the public other clear mass transport alternatives.
"There are not enough taxis on the roads and the buses are fully packed and the Metro is still under construction," he said.
Al Busaidy said the toll gate on Al Garhoud bridge has made no difference to the traffic congestion.
"I have still been held up for hours on the Salik controlled road," he said.
With input from Huda Tabrez, Community Journalist
