What staff transport costs in the UAE.

The short answer

Staff transport is priced per route, not per person. You pay one monthly figure for a vehicle and a driver running a fixed timetable, and the cost per employee is that figure divided by the people who actually ride. Fuel and the driver are in the price. Salik tolls are in our written quotes too.

The one published figure we can stand behind is for a daily Sharjah to Dubai return in a 12 to 15 seat van: from AED 4,800 per month. The typical market range for that run is AED 5,000 to 6,500 per month, checked on 14 October 2026. Everything else on this page is arithmetic around those two numbers, with examples labelled as examples.

The sum, step by step

1. Take the monthly route price from the written quote.
2. Divide it by the number of employees who ride on a normal day, not the number on the list.
3. Divide again by the working days if you want a cost per rider per day.

Example: a 14-seater route at AED 4,800 per month with 14 riders is about AED 343 per rider per month. Spread over 22 working days, the whole route is about AED 218 a day and each rider about AED 15.6. Those figures are arithmetic from our starting price, not a quote for your route.

What empty seats do to the figure

The price of the vehicle does not change when three people are on leave. The cost per rider does.

The right column uses the top of the market range, so you can see how far a quote can drift. The lesson holds on any route: size the vehicle to the riders you really have, and ask for a smaller one when the team shrinks.

Bigger vehicles and the cost of a seat

A larger bus costs more to run but spreads that cost over more seats. Our full-day starting prices show the pattern. They are day rates within Dubai, not monthly staff prices, but the logic carries over.

The coach only wins when it is full. Example: a 30-seater with 18 riders costs about AED 31 per rider per day at the starting price, against about AED 18 when it carries 30. Two factories in one town may fill a coach. Staff scattered across Ajman, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain often fill a van and a half, and then the van is the better buy.

Why routes from the northern emirates cost what they do

Most of our Dubai staff routes run inside one emirate. A northern emirates route crosses a border every morning, and four things follow from that.

• Distance. The empty return leg is paid for too: the vehicle drives back north after the drop, then south again for the evening run.
• Time on the road. A long ride limits how many jobs one vehicle can do in a day, so the route cannot share its cost with a second shift as easily.
• Gates. Free zones, ports and factory yards can have passes and queues, and waiting time counts.
• Mountains. East-coast routes to Khor Fakkan or Fujairah use mountain roads, which mean slower, steadier driving and a longer timetable.

See the route pages for the detail: Ajman to Dubai, Sharjah to Dubai and the east coast.

What moves the monthly figure

• Distance from the pick-up area to the workplace, and the number of stops on the way
• One run each way, or two morning and two evening runs for split shifts
• Working days per week, and whether Friday and Saturday are included
• The size of the vehicle, which should follow the busiest run
• Contract length: monthly contracts start at one month, and shorter cover is quoted by the week
• Ramadan hours and the summer midday break, which can re-time or add runs

Ask the operator to tell you which of these they assumed. A figure that looks low often assumes a shorter route than yours.

Company bus or transport allowance?

Some employers pay an allowance and let staff sort out the journey. Others run a bus. The numbers are simple to compare: take the route price divided by riders, as above, and put your allowance next to it. If the allowance is lower, the bus costs more in cash. What the bus buys is a fixed arrival time, no parking bill and a wider hiring pool. What it does not buy is flexibility, because one person finishing late holds up the others.

Employment terms and transport rules differ between employers and emirates. Check your contracts and any rules that apply to your sector before you change how you provide transport.

What a cheap quote can leave out

Before you compare two prices, check that both include the same things.

• Fuel and Salik tolls, or an extra line for them
• A replacement vehicle when the regular one is in for service
• A relief driver for leave and days off
• Waiting time at gates, and what counts as waiting
• VAT. UAE VAT is 5%, and market prices are quoted both with and without it

Our staff transport contract questions turn this list into a checklist for the contract itself, and the bus rental price guide shows every vehicle’s starting price.

Getting a quote you can compare

Send every operator the same facts: the areas staff live in with a headcount for each, the workplace address and gate, start and finish times, working days, and the vehicle size you think you need. Use the booking form, choose “Staff transport (recurring)”, or message info@emiratesbushire.com or WhatsApp +971 54 126 1681. We reply with a written monthly price per route. For crews on construction and facilities sites, see labour transport.

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

Keep reading

• 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.
• Free zone staff transport: Staff buses for companies in the Sharjah, Hamriyah, Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah free zones: gates, shifts, routes and cost per head.
• Passenger transport company UAE: What a passenger transport company in the UAE should run, how licences work, and how our one-off bookings and monthly contracts are set up.
• University transport in Sharjah: Chartered buses for University City Sharjah: field trips, student routes, orientation days and graduation, with timing and cost.