A panel discussion under progress at the SRTA headquarters in Sharjah on Monday.

Engineer Youssef Khamis Al Othmani, Chairman of SRTA, has revealed that artificial intelligence technologies were put into action last month and were relied upon in the mechanism of operation of traffic lights across the emirate, noting that 48 traffic signals were fully linked to the intelligent traffic system.

The use of artificial intelligence is based on intelligent computing operations carried out through the system without any human intervention with the aim of finding radical solutions to traffic congestion, he added, stressing that it was working effectively to solve traffic problems of no more than 30 per cent.

"As part of the projects for paving internal roads in the emirate’s residential, industrial and commercial areas, the SRTA completed a number of roads in 10 residential areas in Sharjah City to meet the residents’ needs for easy access to and from the main roads and ensure flexible movement in these areas," he said.

This came during a panel discussion, which brought together representatives of the media and SRTA officials, as part of the Tawasol initiative, organised by the Sharjah Press Club under the umbrella of the Sharjah Government Media Bureau (SGMB).

The panel discussion, which was held in the SRTA headquarters on Monday, aimed at enhancing constructive communication with local newspapers and familiarizing the attendees with SRTA’s initiatives and its most prominent development projects and plans aimed at supporting sustainable development and the emirate’s cultural, commercial and tourist progress.

The panel discussion was also attended by Tariq Saeed Alay, Director General of SGMB, Alia Al Suwaidi, Director of SGMB, Asma Al Juwaied, Director of Sharjah Press Club, Abdulaziz Mohammed Al Jarawan, SRTA Director for Transportation Affairs, Eng. Suleiman Abdulrahman Al Hajeri, SRTA Director for Roads Affairs, and a number of SRTA departmental directors and heads of sections.

During the panel discussion it was also revealed that as many as 44,750,477 people used the emirate’s various means of transportation in 2023 as revealed by the final statistics of the Sharjah Roads and Transport Authority (SRTA).

These included 32,768,656 taxi users and 11,932,880 users of public buses, while 48,941 people used maritime transportation over six months.

Meanwhile, the call centre received a total of 616,312 calls, while the calls requesting services received by the call centre reached 381,863.

The SRTA is adopting the best communication strategies and methods and employing the latest technologies to keep pace with the rapid developments in information and communication technology, Al Othmani said, stressing the SRTA’s reliance on social media platforms to ensure the delivery of the latest news and its most prominent projects and developments to the public as soon as possible.

Tariq Saeed Alay, Director General of SGMB, stressed the keenness of SGMB’s on building and extending bridges of communication between Sharjah government entities and departments and all mass media across the UAE in a way that would support the emirate's efforts to continually develop its services. In 2018, Sharjah Press Club launched the Tawasol initiative with the aim of organizing regular meetings that bring together representatives of local newspapers and Sharjah government officials to enable fruitful and constructive dialogue and familiarize the public with their outputs