Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) will purchase 518 new Citea buses to increase mass transport and to draw new commuters in an effort to reduce road traffic congestion.

The RTA plans to increase the share of mass transport by 30% for personal trips by providing high quality, reasonable cost and wide geographical coverage of buses capable of competing with private vehicles.

The authority also promotes integration between various mass transport systems, such as public buses, Dubai Metro and marine transport services.

The $230.3m contract for manufacturing buses was awarded to VDL/Swaidan Trading Company in The Netherlands and the cost of maintenance for eight years is $408.58m.

The buses are equipped with a real time vehicle monitoring system, passenger information systems and an automated fare collection system, and would be delivered in phases starting from July 2009.