Almost all respondents to a Khaleej Times poll said they would switch to public transport as a result of two new Salik gates coming up in Dubai. More than 3,000 people took part in the poll conducted by KT as at 8pm Monday, with more than 1,900 saying they would make the switch.

By November, the new toll gates at Business Bay Crossing and Al Safa South will be fully operational.

In establishing the additional toll gates, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) hopes to "encourage public transport usage and reduce private vehicle dependence".

As the authority announced the new toll gates, Mattar Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA, said, "The traffic toll policies encourage the public to shift towards mass transportation means such as the metro, buses, marine transport, and soft mobility options."

The RTA has said that it will consider a flexible toll system that takes traffic congestion and gate locations into account in the future.

RTA responded to a tweet by veteran lawyer Habib Al Mulla, who suggested two options:

- The first is dynamic toll fares that increase during peak hours and decrease when there is no traffic congestion. This will help reduce traffic on streets with Salik gates, while ensuring motorists are not charged the same toll when passing through them when they are not crowded.

- The second is to impose double fees in central business districts during working hours. “This system is in place in many countries and aims to spare business areas such as the financial centres, for example, from unnecessary traffic,” he posted on X.

A RTA representative responded that it would consider implementing these suggestions based on its study.