The operator of Dubai’s road tolls, Salik, said on Monday that “dynamic pricing” may be used to ease traffic.
“The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) could implement dynamic pricing through optimising the toll rates depending on the time of the day, for example, by charging a higher toll fee for specific lanes or during peak hours,” Salik said in its IPO announcement.
Dynamic pricing is one of the instruments that might be applied to the Salik system, according to Abdul Muhsen Kalabat, vice-chairman of the Salik Board of Directors.
“Currently, we have fixed fees of Dh4 for Salik. But there are other dynamic systems around the world that charge more during peak hours than off-peak hours. So that is called dynamic pricing. This is based on a transportation study that will be conducted by the RTA and Salik to achieve the common goal of seamless transportation in the emirate. And all this will be subject to approval from the Executive Council of Dubai,” he said.
The RTA and Salik will perform studies before increasing the number of gates or fees, according to Salik chairman Mattar Al Tayer. In this case, the Executive Council will make the final decision.
Existing toll gates “may be removed or modified,” according to Dubai, subject to a directive from the Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai.
