Caravan Expands Ground-Breaking Carlift Bus Services in Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman & Across UAE

Mobility tech innovator Caravan today announced the expansion of its work commute routes, offering commuters a convenient door-to-door bus service from their homes to their workplaces. While the initial route expansion is focused on Ajman to Business Bay and Dubai Silicon Oasis to Business Bay – significant demand is already being shown for more routes across the UAE. Consequently, the more demand shown, and nominations made for particular routes, the more routes Caravan will add to its evolving network.

Commuters will now be able to take advantage of a much friendlier, more reliable, and all-round higher quality Carlift service – one that transforms the Carlift market in the UAE for the better. Above all, commuters will have the peace of mind of knowing the Caravan work commute service is legal, comprehensively certified, safe, affordable and highly efficient.

Mark Hanna, CEO of Caravan, says, “For all our routes, we partner with trusted private bus providers, which enables us to take advantage of high-quality buses and best-in-practice operational processes, ensuring commuters’ comfort, health and safety are always looked after, while social distancing requirements are effortlessly adhered to.”

He adds, “Our app will be closely monitoring driving behaviour and speed, and we have obtained all the necessary legal permissions and official certifications from authorities to operate these routes. We believe that raising the level of service and regulating the process, while keeping rates affordable is key to unlocking this market.”

Co-founded by Syed Karim (COO), Mark Hanna (CEO) and Amr Ramadan (CSO) – the Caravan concept began with a simple question: What can be done to reduce the number of cars on the road and the resulting congestion and pollution caused by them?

As most of the Caravan team are lifelong Dubai residents and hail from Delhi, Cairo and Beirut, they are no strangers to rush hour traffic congestion and the frustration, exhaustion and adverse environmental effects that come with it. They decided to pool their skillsets and tackle the problem head on. And so, Caravan was born.

While other companies looked for ways to disrupt the premium transport sector, the Caravan team set about making a sustainable and affordable impact on local communities, by solving a major problem for the vast majority of commuters throughout the UAE and beyond. Caravan is now able to utilise its cutting-edge technology to connect commuters with buses that provide them with comfortable, convenient, and cost-efficient work commutes.

Commuters can access and choose their routes through the user-friendly technology the Caravan platform provides, which also improves the utilisation of pre-existing buses that are already on the road. The platform optimises an advanced routing algorithm and employs digitalisation of the entirety of the process, from booking to monitoring to paying, which can be done from the convenience of commuters’ own homes.

Moreover, an excellent passenger experience is ensured with every Caravan, as commuters get guaranteed seating, direct pick-ups and drop-offs, and are rid of unnecessary bus changes or walks to metro stations and bus stops, ultimately leading to hassle-free travel.

With Caravan getting ready to shape the new normal for transportation in the UAE, the exciting mobility tech start-up is already making plans to roll out new routes over the coming months, as the team looks to expand the reach of its innovative formalisation of informal bus services beyond Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman, and across other emirates in the very near future, before expanding across the whole GCC region and Egypt.

“Caravan has identified that the Carlift market in the UAE is part of a larger informal transport phenomenon that exists in most emerging markets globally. Fragmented ownership of 14 to 30-seater buses that are privately run has led to a widespread lack of planning, coordination and control in the market. Caravan is perfectly positioned to provide a legitimate and effective solution to such mobility problems. 

“Our research has shown that the informal transport sector caters to hundreds of millions of people around the world, with an annual spend of hundreds of billions of dollars in emerging cities, which presents the opportunity for Caravan to establish itself as a local market leader, before expanding its operations regionally and subsequently across the globe," states Amr Ramadan, CSO of Caravan.