Commuters sing praises of Dubai Metro

Dubai Municipality’s Car Free Day logo is projected on to the Burj Al Arab. Reem Mohammed / The National

DUBAI // Commuters are urging motorists to leave their cars at home and join them on the Dubai Metro for Car Free Day tomorrow.

Dubai Municipality is holding its seventh annual event and all residents are encouraged to ditch their cars and use public transport.

Organisers hope thousands of people will take part, especially as the need to get people on to public transport and take more cars off the roads is a pressing one.

Dubai’s population is expected to reach 2.8 million by 2020.

Taking a cab or driving your car may be more comfortable and quicker, but it also poses problems such as busy roads, finding parking and the bad road habits of other motorists to contend with, commuters say.

They say the Metro is cheaper and more environmentally friendly.

Ahsan Shamsi, 27, uses the Metro to get to work every day.

“It takes me approximately 25 minutes to get from Downtown Dubai to Media City where I work, and then it’s a five-minute walk to the office,” Mr Shamsi said.

“I think the Metro is much better than driving your own car because you don’t deal with the morning traffic and you don’t have to worry about a paying for and finding a parking spot.”

Depending on whether he sits in Gold or Silver class, the Metro journey from costs between Dh5 and Dh10.

“When it’s rush hour I opt to sit in Gold class because, although convenient, the Metro can be extremely crowded during certain hours,” said Mr Shamsi.

A journey from Ibn Battuta, one of the first stations on the Red Line, to Al Rashidiya, at the end of the line 39 kilometres away, takes about an hour and costs Dh7.50 in regular class.

The same journey by taxi takes at least 25 minutes on a clear road and with little traffic.

But if you include the Salik toll gate fees, it can cost up to Dh90.

Driving your own car may seem like the most comfortable option, but the journey from Ibn Battuta to Al Rashidya can last up to 50 minutes in heavy traffic, which also does not include the stress of having to deal with other road users and find parking.

But Hessa Abdullah, 26, said that she rarely used public transport.

“The main reason I don’t use the Metro is because it is time consuming and once I reach my destination I am overwhelmed and in a hurry,” said Ms Abdullah, 26, who works in planning and strategy.

“Another reason is that sometimes I’m heading somewhere but in the middle of my trip I am forced to stop somewhere else or make a detour.”

However, Ms Abdullah said she would like to use public transport more and encouraged others to use it because it was environmentally friendly and eased congestion in the city.