Dubai Transport Zones Increase From 5 to 7

In light of the opening of the green line of the Dubai Metro in the coming weeks, the zoning of public transport in Dubai has been changed to incorporate more zones. Currently there are 5 zones covering all the public transport areas but this will be increased to 7 with effect from 12 August 2011.

The main changes are in and around the central business districts and will impact the following stations:

• Khalid bin al Waleed (Burjuman)
• Karama
• Jaffilia
• World Trade Center
• Emirates Towers
• Financial Centre
• Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall
• Business Bay

If you use any of these stations you may be affected by a slight increase in your fare as you may now be travelling between more zones. These stations were previously in Zone 5, which has now been split into two zones and becomes zones 5 and 6.

I have tried to incorporate the new metro zones in the attached metro map but as usual it is quite difficult to get the precise information about the new zones from the RTA website as they have not posted it yet so I have used a few sources to build this map and hope it is correct.

Purple Line Still Part of the Plans for Dubai Metro

So it seems that the Dubai metro purple line is still part of the plans for the metro in the long term. The purple line was in the master plans at the beginning but was put on hold when the financial crisis hit. But Matthar al Tayer is quoted as saying that the purple line is still in the plans for the next 5-10 years.

The purple line was due to run from Dubai International Airport to Maktoum International Airport along the route of the Al Khail Road. With the airport being delayed it was inevitable that the purple line would also be delayed but hopefully recent slow progress will continue to bring it back into play.

Dubai Metro Map

So as the green line of the Dubai Metro is due to open in September, I have created a new Dubai Metro map that includes all of the stations on the red and green lines. While 2 stations are yet to open on the red line, there are also 2 stations that will not open with the green line opening as the areas around them are not completely developed, even though the stations themselves are actually ready (Creek & Jadaf).

So the map shows just the names of the stations on each line including which are not yet open. Check it out on my Dubai Metro website or else open the image in this post.  

Metro Newspaper Launched

So a new newspaper called 'Read' has come out today which is aimed at the Dubai Metro passengers on the red line. The weekly paper, which will be issued every Sunday is billed as an infotainment title with information about events and happenings close to the Dubai Metro station plus information on celebrity visitors to Dubai, how the Metro system works and also movie listings.

Many worldwide metro or underground systems have a similar paper that is intended for those people who travel on public transport including the 'Metro' newspaper, a free sheet, which is available to pick up for users of the London Underground. Whether the 'Read' newspaper will be as successful as that is yet to be seen, but indeed they have a slightly different slant right now as the 'Metro' is more news based and issued daily.

80,000 copies of Read magazine will be issued each Sunday and it is available in 27 stations on the Red Line.

Did you pick up a copy of Read today? If so what did you think about it?
  

Dubai Metro: Green Line Possibly Set to Open in September

So, according to Arabian Business who spoke to Abdul Younes at the RTA, the Green Line of the Dubai Metro is due to be completed in August and opened some time in September. No date has been set for this which I have to say leads me to believe that it is unlikely it will happen. How often have the RTA set dates for the opening of stations (and the Green Line in fact) - only for those daters to be postponed as they crept ever closer? I don't think I know any other country that would just announce dates and then delay them so frequently. Don't get me wrong, I think the Metro is a real boost to the Emirates public transport system but why lift up people's hopes only to dash them again? It seems to be a true local tradition to do such a thing - so many times I have heard people say - yes that will be ready in 2 weeks... 2 weeks later nothing happens etc etc and the Metro is just the same. If they could manage expectations they wouldn't have a country full of disappointed people - tell us the Green Line will not open until January and we can work with that. But tell us it opens in September, we make plans around that and you are only set to disappoint.

I guess time will tell but if there was gambling allowed in this country I wouldn't bet my last dirham on it.

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.

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.