Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi, RAK Transport Authority

This week Paul chats with Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi of the RAK Transport Authority in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. Ras Al Khaimah is the northernmost of the seven Emirates in the UAE and home to over 60 km of beaches, the world's longest zip line, and...

A really innovative and integrated transit system. From buses to taxis, e-scooters and e-bikes to ferries, RAK Transport is creating a uniquely integrated system powered by new apps and technology.

Unlike many North American transit authorities, taxis are an essential part of the overall transit system. The system caters to both residents of Ras Al Khaimah, but also a large tourist industry. The goal is to get people quickly, easily, affordably, and sustainably from one place to another.

You can learn more about RAKTA on their website.

Episode transcript:

Paul Comfort: This is Transit Unplugged. I'm your host Paul Comfort. Thanks for being with us today. As we interview the world's top transit executives to bring you their insights about what's happening in their transit system and for the future of our industry. And today we're excited to enter into the world of the middle east.

Again, our guest today is Mr. Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi , the executive general manager. At the RAS Al Khaimah Emirates in the United Arab Emirates Transport Authority, they call it the RAK Transport Authority or rack Transport Authority. And today he discusses the vision for transportation there in the Emirate as reliable, smart, and sustainable. It's their vision.

 It includes all kinds of exciting innovations, including rolling in taxi as part of the overall mobility solution. Uh, e-bikes, e-scooters plans for a high-speed ferry service. Uh, inner city connections between the various city states of the UAE, all that. You'll get a real in-depth look today with this interview with Mr. Esmaeel Hassan Al Blooshi on Transit Unplugged.

Narrator: What does it mean to be a successful public transit agency? What are you doing to lead the way? It's time to learn from the top transit professionals in North America.

This is Transit Unplugged with your host Paul Comfort.

Paul Comfort: Welcome to Transit Unplugged. I'm your host Paul Comfort. Great to be with you today on another edition of the world's leading transit podcast, Transit Unplugged. And today we head to the Middle East in an interview with a leader of one of the large upcoming transit systems in the United Arab Emirates. Esmaeel Hassan Al Blooshi. Thank you so much for being with us today Esmaeel.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Pleasure to be here. Thank you very much for hosting this international podcast.

Paul Comfort: Wonderful to have you with us. And I know you're famous there in the UAE, but after this people in 99 countries will know about you.

So, so we're excited to hear about all the things you've got going on there. Uh, some, our listeners who are regular listeners around the world will recall that recently we had another interview with, with the Ahmed Hashem Bahrozyan, who is the head of the CEO of Dubai RTA, which is one of the cities in the United Arab Emirates. And for those in the Western World, they may not be totally familiar with that with the United Arab Emirates. Um, why don't you tell us just a little bit about how they work that the city states and the structure and all that. And then I'd like to ask you a little about your own background.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yeah, we here in the United Arab Emirates. It's about seven Emirates united together, and we have one ruler. Who's his Highness, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He's the ruler of UAE. And all, all of the Emirates, they have their own rulers and all of us is working as a whole united country.

Paul Comfort: That's wonderful. And so the people can place it geographically. Where in the Middle East, is it kind of, can you, can you show it, tell us where it's at?

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Actually, we are in the middle of Middle East connecting that Asia with Europe and United States and the world maps, we are in the middle. And Ras Al Khaimah  is the north, most of the seven Emirates, which lies in the north and all of us actually connected united and smoothly. You can transfer from each Emirates.

Paul Comfort: That's great. And you, you have a lot of a waterfront there, right? Don't you don't, you have a, a great beach area and everything.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Oh, we have a wonderful beaches actually, Ras Al Khaimah has almost 64 kilometer of beaches and terracotta dissolves.

And also, also Ras Al Khaimah has a diverse landscape.

Paul Comfort: That's wonderful. So Ras Al Khaimah Emirate, one of the seven Emirates in the UAE and you're the head of the transportation program there. That's wonderful. So tell us a little bit about yourself and your background and how you came to have this position.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yeah, actually Twelve years of use experiences most of it in transportation.

I'm glad. And fortunately I worked with road transport authority in Dubai for more than five years. And I'm holding actually a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from American University of Sharjah. And also I have a Master Degree on Engineering Management. Most of my experience in transportation, or as I said, five years there in Dubai as a Director of Strategy and Business Development and higher, I have been moved to Ras Al Khaimah   for two years now as a General Manager for Transportation trying one of the youth leader, actually our government and the Ras Al Khaimah, especially give us the empowerment and delegation to execute their vision Ras Al Khaimah vision 2030, especially in transportation. I'm here now to execute Ras Al Khaimah strategy 2020, 20 25 in transportations. Try to achieve the ultimate goals and try to make the transportation here in Ras Al Khaimah reliable, smart, and sustainable.

Paul Comfort: That's great. So what is the vision? What is the vision that you're implementing there?

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yeah, our vision is aligned with Ras Al Khaimah government vision. Our vision is to provide for the tools for the residential people, to the Ras Al Khaimah  visitors a reliable, smart, sustainable transportation. Allow them to move from destination to another destination smoothly with. Uh, multiple transportation modes and these transportation modes should integrate to each other in order to build a solid infrastructure and transportation, which help the city to grow.

Paul Comfort: That's great. So about how many people are in a, what you call you normally call it RAK, right?

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yeah. Yeah. RAK almost 350 thousands as a population. We are also 1,680 kilometer square. Ras Al Khaimah is, as I said, is the north most of the seven Emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. It's known for its rich history, dating back seven thousands years and diverse landscape.

In Ras Al Khaimah you can have a unique experience. Especially when you have a 64 kilometer of beaches, when you have a terracotta desserts, when you have an amazing mountains, actually we are the home for the largest zip line worldwide. It's yeah, it's almost a three kilometer and this experience is really unique.

And also Ras Al Khaimah vision is to be the Ras Al Khaimah   city vision is to be one of the business service players and to be the host for the tourists also. The Emirates, economic lies, multiple major companies and diverse interests, including manufacturers and tourists and tourism. Major companies are here on Ras Al Khaimah, which is like and many other companies fortunately, fortunately for more than a decade Ras Al Khaimah  has been consistently rated as an eight range by Fitch and Standard Poore international rating agency and already there, but it is home to more than 20 thousands.

Of uh, businesses for from hundred countries representing over 50 industries and glad to say that Ras Al Khaimah courts is also the fastest courts in the world, enforcing contracts and commercial disputes. All of these facts are in Ras Al Khaimah, and you can also experience a very unique experiences like having uh, going to actually to desert line, going to hiking, to have five star hotels lying on the beaches.

So really Ras Al Khaimah my advice, you and the listeners to visit.

Paul Comfort: I'd love to, once we can travel again, maybe Matthew Brownlee, my colleague, and I can come there and hang out for a few days with you. That'd be fun. See your operations. So tell us about your operations Esmaeel. Tell us about the public transit operations and what you have there, and then maybe what's coming.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yeah. Uh, in Ras Al Khaimah now we have public transportation. And especially the intercity buses, intercity buses is linking Ras Al Khaimah to other seven Emirates. We have buses that goes to other Emirates, Dubai Abu Dhabi, and every hour, there is a trip goes to these Emirates. So, this is one of our main services here to link Ras Al Khaimah and to be as a hub, to be linked with other Emirates. Also, we have a fleet of taxis, which is 850 taxis that providing a taxi services here. In Ras Al Khaimah and we have mainly now three public bus routes, but this project has been uh, approved by the government and this project will be expanded. And in this year, we will have a new public bus project, which will link whole Ras Al Khaimah from the city center to other areas. This three main routes we'll have 12 buses to serve them and we will have four main stations.

Because say main hubs and 55 buses stops. So actually here in Ras Al Khaimah as a transportation, we have two main services, which is public bus and taxis.

Paul Comfort: Okay. And what type of buses are you going to do? Electric or zero emission buses.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yes for sure. Our vision here is to be sustainable. We will try to implement the electrical buses, but in the beginning, we'll try to have the, the most sustainable buses, which has zero five.

In order to be implemented here in Ras Al Khaimah   as per the government vision that all of our transportation should be sustainable. Uh, the great things about this one, we have a great initiatives during the pandemic that we launch RAK bus application, that RAK applications allow our customer to book their seats to book, to see the buses and track them not only that they can pay their tickets online. This application is premier here in UAE because this is the first application for inter-city buses in UAE. And actually we did that and we launch it during the pandemic almost on May, 2019 and to admit to the 2020. Uh, because of, we don't want the people to wait on the station and we don't want him to have a contact with the cashiers.

That's why they can use the RAK bus applications just to book their tickets and come before their trips, five minutes before the trips and have their trip safely.

Paul Comfort: So I know that RAK is a popular tourist destination, a lot of folks from Europe and other places come there. Um, how has that demographic of, of tourism, how has that impacted your plans for public transportation?

Are you focused on serving them or your own citizens or both? Or how has that impacted it? And then maybe we can talk about the, if any impact that COVID has had on your services.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yeah, that's a great question. Actually, when we are planning our master plan in transportations and integrating the public service public bus services and the taxis. Always, we are putting one of the main inputs in our studies is to see the tourists and how much tourists are visiting Ras Al Khaimah.

We have almost before the pandemic 1 million. A tourist who was visiting, visiting Ras Al Khaimah and enjoying their stay here on Ras Al Khaimah. So all of these one of our main inputs in the studies. And we are trying to increase our taxes based on this number. And other items for terms for sure.

And try to do this uh, public transportation services, especially in bus. That's why the government approves the new master plan. Which is especially for bus services, which linked also the five star hotels and tourist destination to the city center, which, which will help them to move to Ras Al Khaimah and their tourist destinations is mostly not the only that also we launch.

Our collaboration with Careem applications, which is similar to Uber here and I sure pretty sure that, you know, Careem, this is providing limousine service and taxi service, for the tourists and residential people here in Ras Al Khaimah, which allows them to move smoothly in Ras Al Khaimah.

Paul Comfort: Let me ask you about that connection.

I think that's interesting here in the U S we don't have as much of a connection between public transit systems and taxis, but there, it seems like you do, is that right? You consider the taxi service kind of an integral part of your overall mobility,

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: For sure. And in order to have that, honestly, you have a, you have to have a solid transportation infrastructure systems.

But actually we did. We are, we now having RAK bus applications, this RAK applications, we will have a lot of data from it and this data will try to fill it in a platform. That platforms has also another inputs of data from taxi sectors. These data will be talking to each other, that systems and integrating each of those.

These data will take it and put it as a main input in our transportation master plan. Also this year, we are launching a smart meters for all of our taxis. Smart meters will allow us and we'll take, we will take data from it. Where are the heatmap and Ras Al Khaimah. We will know from this smart meter projects.

How many trips we have 7:00 AM in the morning. And where are the locations? All of these data, for example, will be taken from this smart meter will be filled on the transportation systems, especially in operation control center. OCC. That system will be a collective for taxi sectors, data, public transportations data, limousine data.

It will be analyzed in order to take the best decision of how making, how to make all of them integrated to each.

Paul Comfort: Very good. That's very interesting. Um, the mobility services like Uber, like you mentioned, or Lyft, the other company, a lot of transit systems are starting to connect with them, but not so many with taxi.

So it's a good example. Of how you're using existing resources, your big taxi fleets, which a lot of cities have and really creating a role for them in the overall mobility of, of your city. I think that's wonderful. Um, what else is happening? Do you have any other future plans coming rail or Metro or ferry or maybe your innovation hub.

Let's talk about what's coming.

Esmaeel Hasan Al Blooshi: Yeah, we can't think our marine sets. RAK Transport Authority. We are the authority who's recreating the marine services here in Ras Al Khaimah and the government of Ras Al Khaimah approved the master plan for marine services. It's includes three phases, actually. And it's the first phases will have five ministations in Mangrove Creek  and Ras Al Khaimah.

Okay. This FIFA's stations will be, two stations will be even connecting two malls together because all of them are lying in creek of Ras Al Khaimah   these five stations. Will be linked with a traditional abra service. This is, will be our first phase of marine service. Next phase, we'll be linking this creek of Ras Al Khaimah to another 15 KM, almost 50 kilometer, which we called Mina Al Arab and Marjan Island with a ferry services.

So ferry services we'll be linking to destinations almost 15 kilometers. In Marjan Island, we have a wonderful five-star hotels lying on the beaches. So the tourists can go with a ferry from Marjan Island to a creek area and even have a tool. And the taxi services there in the creek of Ras Al Khaimah.

The third phase, we'll be linking Ras Al Khaimah these two areas to another Emirates, which is Ajmal and Dubai and Sharjah, hopefully in the future with ferry services. So this marine service and this master plan will be shall implemented starting from this year. And this marine services will be aligned with other transportation services, which has taxi and public buses in Ras Al Khaimah   also. Great to say that we having other mobility solutions like e-scooters  and e-bicycles in Ras Al Khaimah . We just started e-scooters and e-bicycles as an entertainment, to be honest, just to raise the culture of e-scooters and using e-bicycles in Ras Al Khaimah.

So we have now, e-bicycles live in five places in Ras Al Khaimah and Cornish area and Marjan Island at Hamrock area. Later after we finished the first phase of the public bus project we'll have, as I said, five ministations. And 55 buses stops. We want to try to integrate the e-bicycles with these bus stops to be as solutions for fares and last my, for the people here in Ras Al Khaimah, not only that, honestly, we are trying here to have one platform for transportation. This is one of our ultimate. Uh, goal and in 2025, we try to have that one transport platform in Ras Al Khaimah. This platform will make life of the residents life of the tourist in Ras Al Khaimah, easy. They can download that plant that platform and make their journey easily in Ras Al Khaimah.

If they want to use the public bus, if they want use a mobility solutions like Careem. If they want to use a taxi or marine service or other mobility solutions like e-scooter and bicycles. So we are trying to put transportation here in Ras Al Khaimah we sit reliable, smart, sustainable linking, and making that, making that connectivity for the people and smoothly movement here in Ras Al Khaimah. One of our also ultimate goals is for the,

uh, for the rental sectors. One of our main projects here is to have a platform for the Rent-A-Car companies. Okay. I'd like to transport authority is responsible to regulate it, to regulate the sector. Uh, we have this idea is to allow people to have a platform, one single platform, which whole, which hosting all of our Intel companies to be on that platform, make the life easy for the tourist, when they come to Ras Al Khaimah, they can rent the car easily from the airport using that applications, even if they are even in the staying at their hotels.

So. Uh, we have many projects here in the future just to make transportation easy for the people.

Paul Comfort: That's wonderful. I think the improving the customer experience is actually one of the big trends right now throughout right. Uh, public transportation industry as, as ridership has declined in many major cities around the world because of COVID and the lockdowns that governments have imposed, and a lot of allow people to work in their offices...