One year ahead of first FIFA World Cup in the Middle East, Qatar has not only proudly completed construction work of all eight tournament venues, but also tested all of its facilities for the tournament during the first FIFA Arab Cup held in Qatar from November 30 to December 18.
As the country is expecting arrival of more than one million fans through Hamad International Airport (HIA) to participate in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Qatar is prepared to meet all requirements of transportation and other logistic needs. HIA is recognised as one of the most sustainable airport in the region and the best, effective and also offering time-saving services.
It is now well known that Qatar will stage the most compact edition of the FIFA World Cup tournament as sixty-four matches over 28 days will take place in close proximity, with the maximum travel distance between stadiums just 75km, allowing fans to attend more than one game a day.
Transportation system’s effectiveness were also tested during different tournaments took place in Qatar recently, including FIFA Arab Cup 2021, and the Ministry of Transport has learnt a lot from hosting these events and that is what prompted Mowasalat company to affirm its preparedness for future mega sporting events in Qatar.
The company has shuttled more than 1.4 million passengers in more than 190,000 bus service hours, at a record number of 4,000 buses across all of its services for FIFA Arab Cup 2021. The company’s (Mowasalat) CEO Fahad Al Qahtani said, “Mowasalat employed and trained thousands of drivers, mechanics, and professional bus operations staff, and bought an entire fleet of 3000 clean diesel and electric buses to cater to all shuttle needs during the matches.”
No doubt, the State of Qatar has set up a transport network where the Doha Metro, trams and Karwa bus services, will play a key role in carrying fans during Qatar 2022 and make them experience seamless travel between hotels, stadiums and tourist attractions. As the Doha Metro directly links the HIA with five Qatar 2022 stadiums, it makes it the backbone of Qatar 2022 transportation system. Whereas, fans can reach the remaining tournament venues via a combination of metro, bus services and trams.
In line with Qatar National Vision 2030, the transport system shows increasing sustainable growth, as more bus fleets are being replaced with electrified buses, new charging infrastructure, depots and bus stations are being established. The metro system is efficient, electric and utilises regenerative braking systems and will help to reduce the carbon emission generated by the vehicles.
