Free zone staff transport, done properly.

Staff transport for free zone companies

The free zones in the northern emirates are not one place. Sharjah has its airport zone and Hamriyah on the coast north of Ajman. Ajman has its own free zone, and Ras Al Khaimah’s economic zone is spread over several areas of the emirate. Each has its own entrance, its own rules and its own morning traffic. A staff route that works well for one will not work for another.

What the zones have in common is the work pattern. Early starts, shift changes, and employees who live in shared flats or accommodation in another emirate. The result is one of the most common requests we get for staff transport outside Dubai: a fixed route, quoted per month, that gets everyone to the gate on time. This page is about that situation specifically. For the contract side, read our staff transport contract checklist.

Gate access: the first thing to confirm

Free zones control who comes in. Many ask for vehicle and driver details in advance, and some use passes or registered vehicle lists. The requirements differ between zones and change over time, so the right first step is a call to your free zone’s service desk or your business centre. They will tell you what the gate needs.

Once you know, tell us. We give you the driver’s name and vehicle details before the first day, and we ask which gate and which drop-off point the bus should use. In a large zone, the wrong gate can add 20 minutes to the morning run. Our drivers will not go where the gate does not allow, so plan the final stretch on foot if there is one.

Where free zone staff actually travel from

Most free zone staff live in one of a few places. From Hamriyah and Ajman, the common pick-ups are in Al Nuaimiya, Al Jurf and Ajman’s residential blocks, with a second stop in Sharjah. For Sharjah’s airport zone, staff come from Al Nahda, Al Taawun, Al Qasimia and Al Qusais across the border in Dubai. For Ras Al Khaimah, from the city, Al Nakheel and shared accommodation near the industrial areas, with some riders from Sharjah.

We ask for the pick-up list and the shift time and draw a route from it. The usual aim is the fewest vehicles that cover every stop without anyone sitting on the bus for more than about 45 minutes. Longer than that and staff stop wanting the bus.

Our page on Sharjah to Dubai staff transport covers the Sharjah corridor in more detail, and bus rental in Sharjah lists areas.

Shifts, weekends and Ramadan

A free zone office is usually a single daytime shift, so one morning run and one evening run. A warehouse or workshop may have two or three, and the same van sometimes covers the second shift’s pick-up after finishing the first. We map the shifts first and the vehicles second.

Tell us if your working week differs. Some teams work Saturday morning, some do not, and some have a different rota for the sales staff. Many employers shorten working hours in Ramadan, so the pick-up times shift, and we build that into the plan before the month starts rather than the week it begins.

In summer the air-conditioning matters more than anything else on the bus, and every vehicle is checked before every trip.

Starting small, and sharing a bus

A new company with eight staff does not need a monthly contract on day one. A 13-seater van from AED 450 per day does the job on a trial week, and you can see the real timings before you commit to a route.

Sharing is possible. Two small companies in the same zone, with similar shifts and neighbouring staff accommodation, sometimes split one vehicle. It only works if both companies agree on the pick-up times, the route and who pays. We quote the route as a whole, and the companies divide the cost, which keeps our invoice simple. A contract naming both is better than a handshake.

What it costs per employee

Our staff routes are quoted per month, per route. As a reference, a daily return run in a 12 to 15 seat van starts from AED 4,800 per month, and the typical market range for the same job is AED 5,000 to 6,500. A free zone route is quoted from your real stops, hours and days, and can land above or below that.

Example: 13 employees on a 15-seat van at AED 4,800 a month. That works out at about AED 369 per person per month, or roughly AED 14 per working day over 26 days.

Example: 8 employees in a trial week on a 13-seater van at AED 450 a day. A six-day week is about AED 2,700 in total, and you decide afterwards whether to move to a monthly route. The price covers a driver, fuel and the vehicle; anything outside that is listed on the quote first.

Compare that against giving staff a transport allowance. Allowances are easy to run, but you lose control of arrival times, and staff who share lifts arrive in different groups. Many companies keep the allowance for managers and run a bus for the rest. For the general comparison see bus rental prices.

How to ask for a quote

Send us the free zone, the gate, the pick-up areas, the number of riders, the shift times and the working days through the booking form, or email info@emiratesbushire.com. A written quote follows, including the vehicle size and a named driver where we can arrange it. Please read the bus size guide if you are unsure whether to start with a van or a mini coach.

Related: Staff Transport · Staff transport contract guide · Sharjah to Dubai staff transport · Bus rental Sharjah · Bus rental Ajman · Bus rental Ras Al Khaimah · Get a quote

Keep reading

• Staff transport cost guide: How a monthly staff-transport price is built, what it works out to per person, and what pushes it up on routes from the northern emirates.
• Ajman to Dubai staff transport: Daily staff routes that start in Ajman and end at your Dubai office, warehouse or site, on one monthly price.
• Sharjah to Dubai staff transport: Daily staff routes from Sharjah and Ajman into Dubai, on a fixed monthly timetable with a regular driver.
• Staff transport contract guide: The questions HR, admin and procurement teams should ask before signing a monthly staff bus contract.
• Bus rental Ras Al Khaimah: Vans, minibuses and coaches with drivers for Jebel Jais trips, resort transfers, weddings and staff routes in Ras Al Khaimah.
• Bus rental Ajman: Vans, minibuses and coaches with drivers for staff routes, university trips, weddings and airport runs from Ajman.