Muscat’s public transport master plan

In response to population growth and traffic congestion in certain areas of the capital, the Ministry of Transport and Communications has started work on the Public Transport Master Plan (PTMP) for Muscat, which will be completed by the end of this year. Speaking at the Oman Public Transport Conference at Grand Hyatt Muscat, Director of Planning and Investment Development at the Ministry of Transport and Communications Affan Al Akhzami said implementation of the plan will lead to a better bus network and
October 14, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
In response to population growth and traffic congestion in certain areas of the capital, the Ministry of Transport and Communications has started work on the Public Transport Master Plan (PTMP) for Muscat, which will be completed by the end of this year.

Speaking at the Oman Public Transport Conference at Grand Hyatt Muscat, Director of Planning and Investment Development at the Ministry of Transport and Communications Affan Al Akhzami said implementation of the plan will lead to a better bus network and at later stages can be integrated with bus rapid transit (BRT) and light rail transit (LRT) systems.

Ineco, the Spanish company which has been awarded the development of the PTMP, gave an overview of the master plan on the first day of the conference. The formation of a Public Transport Authority, extension of the urban bus service, integrating different modes of public transport like bus and taxi and ferry services and an awareness campaign to discourage use of private cars are some of the major recommendations.

Emilio Miralles Claver, Ineco project team leader for the master plan, said that there are several cultural factors that may affect the development of public transport, the most notable being the car culture and gender issues that may discourage women from using public transport.

“At this stage, the important thing is to change the present transport habits of the population to ensure that they welcome the value proposition offered by any new public transport system,” he said.

Related Content

  • Ken Leonard talks to ITS International
    August 21, 2014
    Ken Leonard, director of the USDOT’s ITS Joint Program office made time in his schedule during the Helsinki Congress to speak to ITS International. It has been 18 months since Ken Leonard took over as the director of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office at the US Department of Transportation. With 30 years of technical experience behind him, to say he is enjoying the challenge would be to put it mildly: “It is incredibly exciting to be working in intelligent transportation systems, th
    Read More
  • Technology and finance shapes up to make MaaS happen
    June 7, 2017
    The technology and finance aspects needed for Mobility as a Service (MaaS) to become widely adopted are taking shape as Geoff Hadwick and Colin Sowman hear. Sampo Hietanen, CEO of MaaS Global and ‘father’ of MaaS, started his address to ITS International’s recent MaaS Market conference in London by saying: “All of the problems that can be solved by a company or group of companies have already been solved, and now we are left with the big ones such as housing, transport and health. He called MaaS the “Netfli
    Read More
  • Stop thinking and act on cooperative infrastructures
    February 2, 2012
    OmniAir's Tim McGuckin looks at why metropolitan transportation networks might be the key to securing the long-term funding of cooperative infrastructure
    Read More
  • Shaking up the taxi market with smarter ride requests
    February 24, 2016
    Timothy Compston looks at the rise of Uber and ride request mobile apps. There is little doubt that the advent of Uber has come as major shock to established taxi operators and has caused regulators, cities and DOTs to rethink current regulations so they can keep pace with the changing dynamics of the marketplace.
    Read More

Highlighted Content