The end of fuel subsidies in the UAE will have the huge benefit of encouraging all road users to change their habits for the better. Nothing is going to change overnight and most car users will adapt to the 24 per cent rise in the price of regular petrol, but in the long term, people will start to think more carefully about how they travel around the country. It is time to change the daily inconvenience of the county’s main roads getting jammed at rush hours by hundreds of cars, nearly all of which are carrying only one person each.
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One group that will be delighted with the changes are the truck and bus drivers who use diesel, which has dropped by 29 per cent, and this will have a substantial knock-on effect on the wider economy. The country’s impressive road system will function much better when there is more car pooling and more use of taxis, and many more people use the buses, metros and trams, particularly once their networks spread more effectively across the cities. The large crowds already using Dubai Metro is an encouraging indication of where the country is heading as many more people now plan their lives without relying on a car.
Under the new system, the government will review the price every month and only change it if required by international prices. UAE drivers have enjoyed unusually low fuel prices for decades because of the UAE’s cheap-energy policy, but long-term government subsidies are not good for any economy and the new system puts the country on a more sure footing.
