Bus service to HIA sees more passengers

There has been a significant rise in public patronage of Karwa bus services to Hamad International Airport (HIA), sources at the Doha Bus Station (DBS) have told Gulf Times.

Inquiries found that more people are now using these buses to travel between the city and the new airport than a month ago.

“Among the regular users are several members of the airport staff, who start availing of the bus services from early in the morning,” said a Mowasalat official, adding that a number of others too are using buses to reach HIA.

On some of the evening trips, the buses are filled to capacity, the Mowasalat official added.

Apart from direct HIA-DBS services, buses going to the Mesaieed area are also being routed through the new airport.

With many people travelling out of the country this time of the year, a large number of air passengers are using the buses to reach  the airport, especially in the evenings, it has been found.

Buses to the new airport are operated at 30-minute intervals from the DBS until around midnight. Also, there is already a demand from commuters to operate direct buses to the airport from places other than the DBS.

While it may cost a passenger around QR30 to go to the new airport from places like Msheireb by taxi, the fare on the DBS-HIA bus is only QR3. The taxi fare is even higher if hired at the airport.

Besides being a cheap option, the non-stop bus service takes only about  25 minutes to reach the airport from DBS, it is found.

Gulf Times