Dubai Metro: Why Isn't The Ladies Carriage Pink?

So I often travel in the ladies only carriage on the Dubai Metro and every time I do there is an incident of men getting on and not realising that the carriage they are in is for ladies only. Quite often the policemen that man the stations will point it out to the guys and tell them to move to the next carriage, or else if there is an attendant on the train and they are not holed up in the Gold Class carriage then they will also move them on, but half of the time no-one seems to be there to put them right.

However, I am not going to totally blame the men for this oversight, as it is not completely obvious, although there are stickers in the carriage and above the doors when you get in (and of course the fact that only ladies are in there), that they should not be there. What would be much more obvious is if they had made the insides of the carriage pink! At the moment it is just a kind of turquoise blue which is a subtle change to the sky blue of the general carriages. Too subtle I say. Making the carriages pink inside would send a clear message to the occupants that it is for Women Only! Not only that, it would look nice and be a pleasant environment to travel in. Just my opinion anyway... :-)

Dubai Metro - Focus on Nakheel Metro Station

When the RTA announced that they were allowing Dubai Metro stations to be sponsored by companies who would then be able to name the stations, I'm not so sure that anyone really thought of the implications of this in terms of people knowing where they were going when they were on the Dubai Metro or people knowing where a station was located.

Case in point is Nakheel Metro station. If you were asked to guess where that was then I am not sure that you would be able to pinpoint its location.

Anyway, the answer is that Nakheel metro station would have been better named 'Emirates Golf Club' or 'AUD'. Now you realise where it is I assume. But obviously giving the stations useful location names came second best to making some money out of naming them.

So Nakheel Metro station is a great stop for quite a number of places. Obviously, as above, if you are visiting the Emirates Golf Club (although it might not be hugely feasible to carry a set of clubs on the Metro but I have seen someone with a small bag of a few clubs who was obviously going to the driving range) then it is the right stop, so the huge crowds that visit the Dubai Desert Classic and the Dubai Ladies Masters would do well to use the Metro as parking can be busy at these events.

Also, there are a number of towers within Dubai Media City that are within about a 5 minute walk of Nakheel Metro station including Al Shatha Tower, Al Thuraya towers 1 and 2 and also the Media One hotel. Of course it depends on how far you are prepared to walk (and maybe how hot it is) but there are many other offices close by.

Added to this, events that are held in Dubai Media City Amphitheatre are within reach of the Metro station so that would be a great option if you are wanting to come and have a few beverages. In particular the entrance to the Dubai Jazz Festival that happens for 10 days every year is only a 5 minute walk from the station.

I have to say I am not a huge fan of feeder buses for the prime reason that whenever I have tried to use them they have been so infrequent that you might as well jump in a taxi. Also they take their time wending their way through different stops and I for one cannot find great information about their timetables. As well as that it seems that most bus stops do not have any shade. I tried to have a quick look for feeder bus information when I was going through Nakheel station a couple of times yesterday but there was nothing inside and the only bus I saw was a number 88 that said 'Deira City Centre' on the back. Why would I want to take a bus from Nakheel Metro station to Deira City Centre is anyone's guess.

New Combination Card for Dubai Metro

The RTA is teaming up with Emirates NBD and Visa to come up with a combination contactless card to pay for Dubai Transport services. It will link the Nol card with Visa debit and credit cards so that commuters will have the opportunity to top up their Nol cards automatically.

See here for the full story.

Video Taken From Dubai Metro

Dubai Metro Green Line Will Be Extended

Although it has been announced that the opening of the Dubai Metro green line will be delayed until late in 2011 (if then), this has been tempered by the news that the green line will be extended further out to include International City and the Fruit and Vegetable Market at Ras al Khor. To be honest, this should have happened in the first place in my opinion. Having lived in International City for 3 years it is one place that would really appreciate a Dubai Metro station. There are thousands of individuals and families living there, most of whom are on low incomes, who would be exactly they type of people who would use the metro. At the moment the bus goes through International City but it takes a long while to reach Rashidiya so that it almost makes it not worth using.

When Will The Green Line Open?

So the Dubai Metro Green Line was supposed to open in August this year (2011) and indeed only a few weeks ago the RTA were still saying that it would open then. But as always seems to happen, all of a sudden they announce that there will be a delay and it won't actually open until the last quarter of the year. Given that it is still 6 months or so away, do I believe that will actually be the case, well I am not sure as it seems like these things keep getting delayed. Cuts have already been made to the Dubai Metro running costs so I feel it is likely that either it will only open next year or else only some of the stations will open at the end of this year.

New Blog For Dubai Metro

In August/September 2009 I setup a website to give information to the public about the Dubai Metro, as no official website had been set up. I was one of the first websites to do this and I did it off my own back, with no monetary support. The website is still running today in conjunction with my Dubai Metro Twitter account and I felt that now was the right time to also start an occasional blog about the Dubai Metro.