Badr bin Saud explains why the Riyadh Metro will not provide a magical solution to traffic congestion… and suggests some engineering solutions to deal with crowding.

Al-Marsad Newspaper: The writer, Dr. Badr bin Saud, proposed a set of engineering solutions to deal with population density in the city of Riyadh, indicating that the Riyadh Metro will not provide a magical solution to traffic congestion.

Other methods

Badr bin Saud said in his article titled “The Riyadh Metro Not Offer a Magic Solution,” published in Al-Riyadh newspaper; “The population of Riyadh will reach 15 million in 2030 at least, and the daily capacity of the metro, after future expansion, will not exceed 3 million and 600 thousand passengers per day There are 84 stations there and it is 176 kilometers long, while London Metro carries 5 million passengers every day London’s population does not exceed 9 million people, and there are 272 stations there, covering an area of ​​400 kilometers long British numbers, so it is more appropriate to work to face future congestion, and employ a group of engineering solutions such as changing the shapes of intersections and construction solutions such as adding bridges, exits or side roads regulatory solutions such as prohibiting parking on the side of the road, and not allowing the construction of government or private facilities, or the holding of various events, except after the submission of estimated numbers that show the amount of traffic resulting from the construction, the capacity of the streets to accommodate it, and the creation of integrated or integrated neighborhoods (urban centers) with population not less than 30 thousand people, and including all services, branches of workplaces, and schools for general education at all levels, in a way that is rarely people have to leave them.”

Car travel

He said: The operation of the Riyadh Metro is supposed to take place at the end of this year, but initially and according to expectations, car trips will be reduced by about 250,000 trips per day, and the statistics of the company TomTom, published in 2021, point to Riyadh residents take 16 million trips per day, 60% for work and study purposes, and 40% for shopping and entertainment, which means that daily trips will decrease to 15 million and 750 thousand trips, and the difference is small, considering that the trips belong to the current population, which is about 8 million.

Ablative treatment

He continued, saying: “People’s habits and tendencies towards private or personal transport came as a result of their emotional and nostalgic attachment to it, and they don’t care about the rationality of their decisions or not, or even about the high cost to them, or about the benefits and advantages of public transport as an alternative, and the case may sometimes require elimination or compensation treatment .” Such as putting a congestion tax on high density streets, in amounts sufficient to force the maximum number of people to use public transport, together with a carbon or pollution tax, because the metro is electric, just like is true with drug and alcohol users.”