The first green bus was launched in Dubai in July 2012 as a pilot project.  After it's  success , Dubai's Roads & Transport Authority(RTA) has decided to expand it's green bus fleet.

10 biodiesel-powered buses have  already joined Dubai's  public transport fleet  and  have helped reduce fuel costs by 7 per cent, while a 34 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions has been recorded. These buses  are  powered by a mixture of used cooking oil and diesel. Apart from using biofuel, the bus uses different eco-friendly technologies.

In the next couple of years, the green bus fleet will further expand as 60 more buses will be added in different phases.

The green bus is an eco-friendly package that has various ingredients working towards reducing Dubai's ecological footprint. It's not just about bio-fuel but it is combination of several items like solar power, using retreaded tyres and using material inside the bus that are not harmful to nature. It's not only about putting green buses on the road but RTA is also implementing many other in-bus eco-friendly measures  like  adjusting the air-conditioner temperatures on buses and having an automatic engine shut off (engines shutting off after five minutes of idle time).  All these as part of green drive  shows  RTA's increasing  focus on improving efficiency in terms of fuel cost and reducing emissions . These have helped reduce fuel consumption and emissions by 8 to 10 per cent.

The ACs on most buses used to run at 18 degrees Celsius which now  is increased to 24 degrees Celsius on 300 buses for now. This not only helps save fuel and reduces emissions but is also  proving more  comfortable to passengers. The project is now being expanded to more buses, gradually covering 1,500 buses in the fleet.

The initiatives have helped reduce RTA's annual budget by 11 per cent, while increasing the revenue by 17 per cent.

How amazing it is ! RTA should have realized it and done it much long ago but it's never too late for such positive moves.