Dubai - MENA Herald: TRL (Transport Research Laboratory), the global centre for innovation in transport and mobility, has awarded the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (Masdar Institute), with the 'TRL Student Award' during this year's edition of Gulf Traffic, which was recently held at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The award was given in recognition of Masdar Institute’s Bus Oriented Development (BOD) project and was received by Allan Ribeiro Pimenta, Asim Khanal, and Jean Phelippe Ramos de Oliveira, during the awards night held on the side-lines of Gulf Traffic 2016.
According to TRL senior executives, the ‘TRL Student Award’ is aimed at tapping into the creative skills of today’s younger generation in order to help solve practical, real-life problems while also helping the country in its move towards more growth and development. The team from Masdar Institute bested out entries from other universities in the UAE like Heriot Watt University (Intelligent Parking System) and American University - Dubai (Optimizing the Dubai Public Transport System to meet the needs of the growing population).
The winning submission was cited for its research on how the Abu Dhabi transportation system can become an example of sustainable mobility. The study recommended some key solutions on how the emirate's transport system can be improved--including BRT Oriented Development, segmentation of busses, enhancement of an existing customer information mobile app and the marketization of public busses. The recommendations are seen as likely solutions to help create a more effective public transportation service.
“We congratulate and commend the team from Masdar Institute for their excellent research work on improving Abu Dhabi’s public transport system. The ‘TRL Student Award’ received overwhelming response from local universities—turning in brilliant work covering timely transportation and mobility issues in the UAE.
“The award category demonstrates our continuing belief and confidence in today’s youth and the role they play in bringing the future of transport to life. TRL wants to encourage new blood into the transport domain and recognize fresh and creative thinking by future professionals and we are proud to have created this platform for universities and young minds to showcase innovative ideas and solutions to challenges being faced today,” concluded Dr. Britta Lang, Country Director - UAE, TRL.