In this episode of Mobility Redefined, host Dr. Kaan Yildizgoz welcomes Dr. Mohammad Alghamdi, Deputy Mayor for Strategy and Transformation of Medina Municipality. Dr. Alghamdi shares how Medina’s ambitious transport strategy aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, focusing on sustainability, public transport expansion, and smart mobility solutions.

Key topics include the city’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, the Smart Medina initiative, and efforts to modernize taxis. Dr. Alghamdi also highlights Medina’s unique transport challenges during Hajj and the city’s shift towards low-carbon solutions, including electric mobility and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure.

Join us as we explore how Medina is redefining urban mobility for residents and millions of visitors.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

01:21 Medina’s Urban Mobility Strategy

04:58 Managing Transport During Hajj

07:27 Decarbonizing Medina’s Transport System

09:40 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System in Medina

11:48 Modernizing Taxi Services

13:32 Smart Medina Initiative

16:06 High-Speed Rail and Future Connectivity

17:49 Conclusion and Future Vision

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Host: Dr. Kaan Yildizgoz

Producer: Mike Cartmel

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Introduction and Welcome

[00:00:04] Kaan: thank you for listening to Mobility Redefined, brought to you by Modaxo. For more insights and information, please visit mobilityredefined. com. That is  mobilityredefined. com.

[00:00:53] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: Thank you, Dr. Kaan, for the introduction. I'm happy to speak on the podcast today and thank you very much for the opportunity.

[00:01:20] Dr Kaan Yildizgoz:  Alghamdi , if you are fine,

Medina's Urban Mobility Strategy

[00:01:40] Dr Kaan Yildizgoz: How does Medina's urban mobility strategy are aligning with this global strategies of Saudi Arabia?

[00:02:06] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: It's the second holiest city in Islam after Mecca, and it's the, I can say it's the third largest city in Saudi Arabia in general. Medina population is almost 1. 5 of permanent residents, and currently we are welcoming an extra 1. 5 million visitors per month. And according to the vision, ambitious plan, we are aiming to reach triple this number by 2030.

[00:02:59] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: [00:03:00] And promote,sustainability,development, in addition to serve and welcome, this number of visitors by 2030 and beyond.we are focusing on reducing the carbon emission on the same,wavelength by improving the quality of public transportation and the accessibility to the public transportation and integrates all this on one platform.

[00:04:25] Dr Kaan Yildizgoz: It's very interesting, especially to see how you are expecting in terms of this bike sharing network in the city of Medina. Doctor, you mentioned about, let's say, the Hajj, which is very important gathering I discuss all around the world. with different people, particularly around organizing transport during large events like Olympics, World Cup and so on.

Managing Transport During Hajj

[00:05:04] Dr Kaan Yildizgoz: What are the specific challenges of this period, Hajj period? What kind of specific things you are doing for managing transport during this period?

[00:05:37] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: so, managing transport during Hajj is a significant challenge, and we have developed a comprehensive plan to ensure smooth mobility for, pilgrims. During Hajj, we significantly increase our public transport capacity by adding more buses, and this is an issue,Dr. Kaan. now we depend heavily on buses on non sustainable buses, and we are [00:06:00] changing this in the near future.

[00:06:57] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: We have almost 40. [00:07:00] attraction spots around the city If the, visitors would cruise the city with conventional buses, this is a disaster to the environment. So, we are putting an ambitious plan for the coming five years to phase out conventional buses, replacing it either with electrical buses. solutions, if not electrical they will be hybrid or with public transportations or micro transportation, solutions.

Decarbonizing Medina's Transport System

[00:07:46] Dr Kaan Yildizgoz: And one question also specific to Saudi Arabia from my mind is that, Saudi cities have been highly dependent on private cars many years, and the society is very much, let's say, feeling themselves more closer to use [00:08:00] their private cars. Instead of public transport, instead of other sustainable modes.

[00:08:16] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: this is a very important question. if we look back to the, history for, the development for Saudi cities, probably at some time we didn't see the need for. an infrastructure that, assists pedestrian and micromobility solutions. And currently it's part of the, if we can call it the humanization process, the rehumanization process for the whole city.

[00:09:14] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: we're introducing, new concepts to the society because, we don't want people to rely heavily on cars, on private cars. We would like them to tend to. walk, use micro mobility solutions like bikes or scooters, or even to use, shared, transportation options. So, as I said, we are changing the quality of life in general.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) System in Medina

[00:09:56] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: Well, as I said,we took our time planning for, [00:10:00] the BRT. Our vision for the BRT in Medina is to create a modern, efficient, and sustainable public transportation network that significantly reduce travel time and reduce dependency on,individual transportation options.

[00:10:36] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: So planning the BRT wasn't that difficult for us. we had a nice journey planning the BRT, making sure that this BRTlanes and those BRT, lanes and zones will be serving both the residents and the visitors at the same time.

[00:11:01] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: Well, I'll not give any promises, but we are planning, before 2030, inshallah where we are. working hard. we are building, new models. public transportation is very expensive. so, we are attracting investors to participate in the BRT. Infrastructure and operations.

[00:11:22] Dr Kaan Yildizgoz: I will be looking forward to ride the BRT in Medina because I love BRTs. a few years of my career I spent for the, design and construction of the BRT in Istanbul, which is now carrying around 1 million passengers per day over 52 kilometers. Which is very important for the city and it was a game changer in transport system of the city.

Modernizing Taxi Services

[00:12:03] Dr Kaan Yildizgoz: I could tell them the taxis are very important because it provides door to door opportunity for people. And in Saudi Arabia, taxis were many years owned and operated by individuals. I guess that's the case for Medina now as well. What steps are being taken to modernize and regulate the taxi services in Medina now?

[00:12:45] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: But those has their, glitches and their downs. currently we are working on uplifting the public taxi service. Creating a public taxi service app and creating a public taxi super app that will link [00:13:00] all the platforms together, giving the user the option to select between taxi service providers in the city.

[00:13:22] Dr Kaan Yildizgoz: So it's very interesting to put electric taxis as well for the future. And I know you mentioned about, let's say, the technology here. And I know that this is a very important topic for you.

Smart Medina Initiative

[00:13:39] Dr Kaan Yildizgoz: What is the Smart Medina program and how is it also linked with the transportation?

[00:14:05] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: efficiency I'll give you one example of, smart city initiatives that we are starting, we are adopting this season, starting off, uh, Ramadan. there is a national initiative to equip all. buses and heavy,trucks with AVL and RFID on board. so we got access to the, data by, they call it , which is a company,owned and operated by the, TGA, the Transportation General Authority.

[00:14:58] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: So I'm just giving one [00:15:00] example of a project that we are adopting in this season, along with linking,the, findings. With the efficiency of the buses and transportation, routes, we will be able to change the, we make a paradigm shift and the experience for the visitors. Because we received plenty of complaints about drivers behaviors, drivers waiting time, drivers effect on.

[00:15:44] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: And, driving behavior. So this is just one example of what to a smart city can give you to change the quality of life and service for visitors.

High-Speed Rail and Future Connectivity

[00:16:11] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: Definitely, yes, we have a link from Mecca through Jeddahh and, Thawal, King Abdullah City to Medina. This is one of the greatest transportation initiatives in the past five years in the kingdom. It gives an option for an ultra high speed travel between Mecca and Medina. you can travel, more than 450 kilometers in less than two hours, and it's being used, efficiently, and the, occupation is, almost 95 percent around the year.

[00:17:04] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: well, the plan for hosting the World Cup, actually, we are very proud of it. And in Medina, although we don't have a stadium, but we have two training camps for two international teams. So connectivity, between the cities is a big issue. thanks God. We already have the connectivity between Medina and Jeddah.

[00:17:48] Dr Kaan Yildizgoz: That's perfect.

Conclusion and Future Vision

[00:18:01] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: as I said, now I can, rephrase it,on the initiatives of the BRT of,changing and uplifting the taxi, service. We already done with, implementing the, first micro, mobility solution by, joint venturing, to create the, bike, stations and bike lanes around the city.

[00:18:41] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: And to help us changing the look for the city by making it more humanized, more pedestrian friendly and bikers friendly. After collaborating for the bike stations around the city, we are expanding to scooters and to electric self driven [00:19:00] shuttles. So hopefully in the coming five years, we'll be seeing more and more of adopting more technologies, more solutions, and most importantly, seeing more people walking around their neighborhoods, instead of driving for five minutes, they'll be walking for 30 minutes with the great benefits and implications on their benefits before.

[00:19:22] Dr Kaan Yildizgoz: What a comprehensive approach. Medina is, I'm sure, lucky to have you. to have managers like, like you leading this, transformation. And I'm very much looking forward to see all the outcomes in a few years. Thank you so much, Dr. Alghamdi for sharing this, forward thinking insights on Medina's urban mobility, transformation.

[00:20:00] Dr Mohammad Alghamdi: [00:20:00] Thank you very much, Dr. Kaan. And I would like to take this opportunity, to thank our leadership. of this ambitious vision and giving us the plan actually to innovate and to come up and implement different solutions for a brighter future for the country, for serving the residents in the best way, and for welcoming visitors For religious and other, goals,with comfort and a good environment.

[00:20:35] Dr Kaan Yildizgoz: Thank you so much, Dr. Alghamdi. Thank you so much.

[00:20:39] Kaan: Thank you for listening to Mobility Redefined brought to you by Modaxo. For more insights, visit our website at Mobility Redefined. com or follow us on LinkedIn. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite app to stay updated with our latest episodes. Thank you for tuning in and we hope you enjoyed the [00:21:00] conversation.