33,000 daily bus trips cited as case for two‑line Bahrain Metro

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Thirty-three thousand bus trips a day is the baseline on Bahrain’s public transport network, the Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, His Excellency Dr Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, told MPs yesterday.

He also restated plans for a two-line Bahrain Metro running from Bahrain International Airport to Seef and from Juffair to the Educational Area in Isa Town.

“The Bahrain Metro project is still going ahead, God willing, and it is one of the most important projects for the ministry,” H.E. Dr Shaikh Abdulla said during the sitting, describing the scheme as central to expanding mass transit.

He linked the case for a metro to current demand on buses, telling Parliament: “The daily trips are 33,000 on normal days, 50,000 at weekends, and in some events 75,000.”

MP Lulwa Al Rumaihi, responding to the minister’s written answer on the latest updates, welcomed the detail on the first phase and pressed for the next stage to follow without a long wait.

“We hope there will be a second phase, without a long gap after the first, covering all governorates of the Kingdom of Bahrain,” she said, arguing that areas with high population density need stronger links to cut reliance on private cars and ease traffic jams.

Under the first phase, the ministry has presented two main routes with 20 stations in total.

Two interchange stations are planned to link the lines, one at BFH and the other at the Central Market in Manama.

The minister said recent work has focused on confirming the two routes and choosing station sites that serve key residential and commercial areas.

He added that reaching the stations has been treated as a main part of the technical work, carried out with the Ministry of Housing, alongside plans to strengthen feeder services so passengers can get to the metro stops.

H.E. Dr Shaikh Abdulla told MPs the ministry is also working through the remaining steps needed on the two corridors, including land matters and moving services that obstruct preparation of the routes, and asked Parliament to keep backing the project.