Dubai’s RTA aligns operational hours with UAE’s new workweek

Implementation of the new system will begin on January 3 and follows the Dubai Government’s decision to align work timings with that of the federal government’s.

While the Dubai Metro and tram timetables have changed, public parking hours remain the same until further notice, meaning free of charge on Fridays and public holidays.

The Dubai Metro Red and Green Lines will operate Monday to Thursday from 5:00 am to 1:15 am and until 2:15 am on Friday and Saturday, the metro lines shall operate from 05:00 am to 2:15 am. On Sunday, metro service will be from 8:00 am to 1:15 am.

Meanwhile, Dubai Tram’s service hours from Monday to Saturday will be from 6:00 am to 1:00 am and from 9:00 am on Sunday.  

Buses across Dubai will continue to operate weeklong on their current timetables which can be geared up in response to demand.

The new closure times of the Floating Bridge will be from 10 pm on Saturday up to 6 am on Monday to enable sufficient time for maritime activities, tourist boats and maintenance works of the bridge starting from 2 Feb 2022.

RTA main offices will also follow the UAE’s workweek changes, with a half day on Friday (finishing at 12:30 pm) and a Saturday and Sunday weekend. For the rest of the week, workhours will be from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm.

The authority’s service providing centres (technical testing centres) will maintain their full working week from Sunday to Thursday but operate from 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm on Fridays.

Early in December, the UAE became the first country in the world to officially announce a national working week shorter than five days, transitioning to a four and a half-day working week for government employees, with Friday afternoon, Saturday and Sunday forming the new weekend.

All federal government departments will move to the new weekend from January 1, 2022. From Monday to Thursday this will feature an eight-hour working day from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm, according to a tweet by the UAE media office.