Dubai ranks in top 10 on global list of affordable public transport

Sao Paulo, Istanbul and London the most expensive cities in which to travel

Public transport in the UAE is among the most affordable in the world, findings by e-commerce site Picodia show. AFP

Public transport in the UAE is among the most affordable in the world, according to a new list of travel costs in major cities.

E-commerce site Picodi provided the research that ranked Dubai in the top-10 most affordable cities for public transport when compared with the average monthly wage.

Analysts looked at the prices of single tickets and monthly passes offered by public transport operators in March 2023, while average net wages were taken from a cost-of-living database provided by Numbeo.

Dubai was among the cheapest cities and ranked 9th on the global list with a Dh350 ($95) monthly pass covering travel by bus, Metro, monorail, tram and ferry.

The most favourable prices were used to compile the list, which did not include cities where one mode of transport was offered by several operators with varying pricing policies, such as Tokyo, Beijing, Jakarta and Bangkok.

Monthly passes included in the study allowed for unlimited travel with all means of transportation within the city limits.

Tallinn in Estonia, Malta’s capital Valletta and Luxembourg topped the list, as each offered free public transport.

Berlin, Warsaw and Singapore were the most affordable cities that charged for public transport, followed by New York, Rome and Dubai.

Dubai’s monthly travel pass costs Dh350 ($95), around 2.3 per cent of the average net wage, a similar ratio to New York (2.1 per cent) and Rome (2.2 per cent).

A monthly bus pass in Sharjah costs Dh225, while in Abu Dhabi it is Dh80.

Sao Paulo in Brazil was the most expensive compared with salary, with a monthly travel pass costing $65, or 14.3 per cent of a monthly wage.

At $41 for a monthly travel pass, Istanbul was the second most expensive when viewed in terms of salary percentage, while London was third.

Britain’s capital city had one of the highest prices for a single travel ticket at $5.19 and featured third on a list of most expensive overall, with a month-long pass costing $271, or 7.4 per cent of the average net wage.

Dubai Metro stations - in pictures

Al Rashidiya metro station at the southern end of Dubai's Red Line has been renamed Centrepoint, after the department store.

The newly named Sobha Realty metro station on the Red Line.

Al Jafiliya station has been renamed Max Fashion.

Dubai’s metro system consists of three lines – Red, Green and Route 2020.

The Route 2020 stations – Jebel Ali, The Gardens, Discovery Gardens, Al Furjan, Jumeirah Golf Estates, Dubai Investment Park and Expo 2020 – are more futuristic than the original network.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, visits a monitoring suite for the transport network.

The Red Line starts at Centrepoint station and ends at UAE Exchange. The route has 29 stations – 24 elevated, four underground and one at ground level.