All passengers travelling by public transport in Saudi Arabia are now allowed to carry their pets on board making sure they all are kept inside safely and securely and must not pose any safety risks.

As a part of this complete operational outline of the rules and rights of all the users of public transport, the transport authority of the kingdom has established an amount of fine charges up to SR500 for 50 different violations.

Among all the listed violations the passengers have to make sure that the items getting carried do not release any displeasing odour, foods that are perishable, sleeping in restricted areas, and evasion of fare. The passengers also need to avoid failure to obey the instructions given by the authority and carrier. They must present a valid ticket when requested by the inspector and crew members of the carrier.

The new regulations are applied to users travelling by trains, buses, ships, and metro. The carriers are asked to keep and present the dedicated list of items that are highly prohibited by the Transport General Authority. The list has to be available for all the on board passengers at the ticket sales counters and on all the smart mobile applications.

Rights for the Passengers with Different Abilities

The rights of the passengers of public transportation services, especially those with limited mobility or disabilities are provided with the maximum priorities. The users with disability along with their pets are provided with special services such as exceptions or reductions in fare price as decided by the Transport General Authority.

Users with limited mobility or different abilities can ask for any assistance from the crew members of the carrier or the managers of the infrastructure while boarding or while taking the exit from the public transport. The carrier will be obedient to the passengers and serve them with all required assistance to fulfill their requests.

Further in order to assist passengers with disabilities the carrier should allow them to reserve two adjoining seats. The two seats will belong to the passenger and the other one to the person accompanying the disabled passenger through the journey.

The Passenger Rights

The newly launched rules also draw attention to delivering the proper understandable information to the passengers about their rights. In addition, they must be instructed on the process of putting forward complaints and the dedicated authorities will be answerable for addressing those issues. All such informative instructions should be accessible readily to passengers with limited mobility and disability, including through any electronic platform.

Passengers with visual disabilities are allowed to avail of the approved service of bringing animals on board, unless and until the pets do not have any harmful intention and do not pose a dangerous move that can harm others or interrupt the safety clauses of the outline of mechanism. If a situation of refusal comes the carrier also can inform the passengers about other alternative services available which can easily meet and fulfil their requirements. 

The rules and regulations will equally handle some difficult situations such as any serious medical emergency or death of the passenger during the journey period. The carrier can ask for support and assistance from the emergency service teams to take the required measures for rescue on board and safely arrange the belongings and luggage of the passenger until those items get delivered to the members of their family or any particular authority.

The new regulated rules aim to warrant a comfortable, safe, and inclusive experience of public transportation for all passengers travelling in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.