School resuming in UAE: Late school starts and flexible work schedules may alleviate traffic congestion
In an effort to alleviate traffic congestion, the Dubai Executive Council has approved a comprehensive traffic improvement plan that emphasizes flexible working hours and adjusted school start times. This strategy aims to reduce peak travel demand by spreading it over a longer period, thus lowering the concentration of vehicles on roads at any one time.
One key component of the plan is staggered school start times. By adjusting school schedules, traffic bottlenecks around school zones can be significantly reduced. The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) in Dubai has already seen a 25% to 40% improvement in traffic flow around 27 schools after completing targeted traffic upgrades during the summer of 2025.
Offering workplace flexibility, such as varying office start and end times or remote work options, further disperses the traffic load across the day. This reduces peak hour volume from commuters, which, when combined with staggered school start times, can have a substantial impact on reducing congestion.
Increasing school bus usage, supported by flexible scheduling, also plays a crucial role in this plan. According to Emirati road safety expert Dr. Mustafa Aldah, one school bus can remove approximately 40 cars from school routes, reducing congestion and lowering harmful emissions.
The RTA is also implementing measures such as priority bus routes, expected to reduce trip times by up to 59 per cent. Additionally, efforts to increase school bus usage by approximately 13 per cent around school zones are part of the Dubai traffic improvement plan.
Dr Aldah believes that more thought needs to go into how timings, zoning, and transport planning can work together to improve daily life for children, parents, and workers. He suggests that governments and schools should question how traffic impact studies are applied before new schools are approved.
Business leaders in Dubai support this initiative, believing that flexibility improves productivity and is good for staff. For instance, Ahmed Mubarak, who works at a Dubai-based private company, says his mornings became less stressful after his employer introduced a later start option. Similarly, Karim Hussain, who runs a marketing agency, allows his team to set their own start times and has seen an increase in productivity.
In schools, staggering start and finish times by grade could ease the morning crunch. Traffic experts also believe that more structured carpooling schemes could help, especially in communities where families live near each other but don't know each other well.
As schools reopen on August 25, traffic congestion remains a major concern for commuters in the UAE. However, with the implementation of the Dubai traffic improvement plan, there is hope for a smoother and less stressful commute in the near future.
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