RIYADH, 22 July — Minister of Communications Dr. Nasser Al-Salloum inaugurated here yesterday the Arriyadh Transportation Center, claimed to be the first bus terminal of its kind in the Middle East. The SR59-million facility will be used by 30 transportation companies, including the Saudi Public Transport Company.
With this, the SAPTCO terminal in downtown Batha will close down. The new terminal, located in the Aziziah district near Harraj, will become operational from today.
The minister, accompanied by Riyadh Mayor Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Ayyaf, who is also president of the board of directors of Arriyadh Development Co., which owns the terminal, toured the sprawling complex along with Dr. Khaled Al-Dughaither, ADC’s general manager, and other officials from the ministry.
The new land transport facility, which spreads over an area of 300,000 square meters, resembles an airport in all respects. It is equipped with an escalator, conveyor belts for cargo movement, arrival and departure lounges for passengers, computerized reservation and ticketing system, electronically-controlled security check, CCTV for displaying bus movement, a public address system, cargo trolleys, mechanized handling of passenger baggage, a spacious cafeteria and a mosque capable of accommodating 4,000 worshipers at a time.
According to Ibrahim Al-Hasnawi, general manager of the terminal, passengers could relax in the cafeteria or the lounge while keeping a watch on their bus via CCTV.
Al-Salloum said the terminal would serve 200 buses and 10,000 passengers at any given time. Noting that it is an ideal land terminal for domestic and international passengers as well as pilgrims, the minister said it would reduce pressure on the capital’s airport.
Shopkeepers in the Batha area expressed concern that the closure of the old bus terminal would negatively affect their business.
Owners of transport companies registered with the ADC told the minister that they would like to have a further reduction of fees each company has to pay to ADC toward maintenance charges. The rates had already been reduced from SR20 to SR13 per passenger, while parking fee was fixed at SR100 per vehicle.
Besides inter-city services to various cities including Makkah and Madinah, passengers intending to travel by road to the Gulf states, Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey could use the terminal.
The center has more than 50 counters for receiving passengers and checking in their baggage. The boarding pass lists the gate number for boarding the bus. There are 11 gates for departures and six for arrivals.
Computerized terminals in the arrival and departure lounges display timing of the buses, while the public address system keeps the passengers posted with incoming and outgoing buses.
As for security checks, the ticket number is electronically entered into the computer system by holding it before the computer screen and a laser beam instantly records the details. Passengers could board the bus hassle-free as the luggage is checked in separately.
