As the fourth most visited city in the world, Dubai welcomes a tremendous number of visitors on a daily basis. While the Arabian city gets returning visitors who have already known their way around it, it also gets first-timers who may find getting around it without help rather difficult. This article thus explores the question of getting around Dubai. It shows you how to travel in Dubai. Hence, whether you’re an Emirati, an expat or a tourist in Dubai, you’d find this article felicitous. That said, we dip in.
In Dubai, you can travel by land, water and air. By land, you can weave your way through the streets of Dubai by a rented car, among other ways. Although, to hire a car, you need an international driver’s license. Apart from a hired car, you can also travel in Dubai on land by virtue of the Dubai Taxi, Uber, the Dubai bus, the Dubai Metro and the Dubai tram.
On water, you can get around some parts of Dubai by the Dubai waterbus, among other ways. The foregoing mentioned means of transportation (with the exception of Uber) form the nub of this article. This is because they are the main ways of traveling in Dubai. The article also covers other means of transport in Dubai such as the Dubai Monorail and the Dubai Trolley.
Table of Contents
See original post: The Dubai Taxi
The Dubai taxi service renders a relatively fast and comfortable way of getting around Dubai. The taxis are metered, air-conditioned and relatively inexpensive. The taxi service is officially run by Dubai Taxi Corporation who franchises other transportation companies taxi operation.
The taxi fare or cost is based on the total reading of the taxi’s meter during your journey. A starting charge and toll charges (Salik) of about AED 4 whenever you pass a toll gate in the taxi form part of the fare.
The payment of the fare is normally done in cash, although the NOL Card and the credit card are accepted. Both the NOL Card and the credit card attract additional charges of AED 1 and AED 2 respectively. Added to the foregoing, you could also pay for your trip via coupons issued by Dubai taxi agency or by companies like Nissan showroom and others. Where the fare is higher than the value of the coupon, you could balance in cash. For a table of the actual fare, please kindly click here.
You should know that Dubai taxi has taxis dedicated to families. These taxis can accommodate 7 persons. Also, there is a special taxi service carried out by the taxi called the Hala Taxi. You board this taxi only via the phone.
You can get a taxi on the road, at a taxi rank at notable places such as the Dubai International Airport, the Dubai Metro Stations and major shopping malls; and via the mobile application. On the road, gesture to an available taxi and it’ll stop. At the taxi rank, join a queue if there’s one and wait for you to get a taxi. Where there’s no taxi, you could call one of the numbers on the sign.
Most of the taxi drivers are expats. This implies that most of them may not be adept at speaking English which means your communicating with the driver may (only may) be a hassle. That notwithsthanding, destinations are generally given by mentioning a landmark. If you don’t know around, you could tell your host to help by giving the driver directions. You could help with a navigational system such as Google Maps and RTA Smart Drive if the driver does not have one.
If you’re not together with some other passenger who is at the same place as you and just wants to travel with you in the same taxi, this wouldn’t be allowed; it is legally unacceptable. You must be together with the other passenger if you both must be allowed to travel in the same taxi.
There is a class of taxis dedicated to women. Men are not allowed to stop and enter this class of taxis. In this way, if a solo male traveler stops this cab, it wouldn’t stop. To reiterate, because he is a man. The only way a man may be allowed to travel in this cab would be that the man is with a woman. The woman stops the vehicle and the man joins in. This class of taxis is called “Ladies Taxi”. You should know that eating or drinking in the taxi is not allowed; nor can you smoke in it.
I strongly recommend you read the original article on the Dubai Taxi. There is vital information I think is requisite.
Dubai’s public transportation service is the main way to get around Dubai, especially by land. The public transportation service includes the Dubai metro, the Dubai tram, the Dubai bus and waterbus. You can transfer from one of these mode of transportation to another, except for the waterbus, on certain conditions. This attracts no extra charge. The fare for the Dubai metro, tram and bus are billed the same way. It is billed based on the number of zones your traveled (covered) on your journey. In other words, you’re billed on the basis of how many zones you traveled on your journey.
If you read our articles on any of the means of transportation (the Dubai Metro, the Dubai tram and the Dubai bus), you’d have no problem coming to terms with Dubai’s zones.
Please note that the Dubai Taxi is still one of Dubai’s public transportation means, I have excluded it from the list because it is not run the same way as the others; its billing is different and you can’t transfer to or from it.
See original post: The Dubai Metro.
The Dubai Metro is a futuristic rail transportation system. Automated, the trains are driverless. They are relatively convenient to travel in as they are air-conditioned, safe and relatively fast. The metro system covers two routes dubbed the Red line and the Green line, the red line being Rashidiya to UAE Exchange (formerly Jebel Ali) and the Green, Etisalat to Dubai Creek. These lines have stations scattered along them. The Red line has 27 exclusive stations, while the Green has 18 exclusive stations, both sharing two — Union and BurJuman Metro stations.
Run by RTA, it offers the cheapest means of transportation in Dubai, although it’s not as flexible as the taxi. You should find the service felicitous as it links to many notable places and major attractions in the city.
Each train is designed to convey 643 passengers at a time and boasts three types of carriages which are the first class, the regular carriage and the women and children carriage. Further, each train offers dedicated spaces for wheelchair users.
The train can run in automatic mode from 45 to 90 km/h depending on the track section. The Red line’s average speed is 42km/h while that of the Green line is 32km/h.
For fares, timings, contact numbers, email, do’s and don’ts and other vital details, please kindly see the original article on the Dubai Metro.
See original post: The Dubai Tram.
Very similar to the Dubai metro is the Dubai tram, a rail transportation system. It covers an entirely different route. The tram is as comfortable as the metro. They boasts really similar features such as free WiFi, air conditioning, beeping doors, tactile guidance for the visually impaired, dedicated spaces for wheelchair users, screens for the display of relevant information. Notwithstanding these similarities, the tram, unlike the metro, requires a driver.
The trams route is simple. It loops around the Dubai Marina area, heads down to Al Sufouh area and passes the following stations: Jumeirah Beach Residence Tram Station 1, Jumeirah Beach Residence Tram Station 2, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai Marina Mall, Dubai Marina, Marina Towers, Mina Seyahi, Media City, Palm Jumeirah, Knowledge, Knowledge Village to Al Sufouh. The maximum waiting time to get a tram is 6 minutes.
Note that the Dubai tram route connects to the Dubai Metro at two stations — Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Lakes Towers, as well as to the Palm Monorail at the Palm Jumeirah Tram Station.
For fares, timings, parking information, do’s and don’ts and other vital details, please kindly see the original article on The Dubai Tram.
See original post: The Dubai Bus.
As the name suggests, the Dubai bus is a bus transportation service that operates in the Emirate of Dubai covering well over 85% of its urban area by virtue of a huge fleet of about 1,518 buses — Double-decker, standard buses, articulated buses and metro links. The buses cover about 158 routes.
As regards comfort, you may not have no worries as the buses are all air-conditioned, boasting provisions for people with disabilities, multiple screens for guiding information, sections for women, children and families etc.
For more information on Dubai Bus routes, stations and buses’ route maps, please see original post on the Dubai Bus Routes.
For fares, timings, do’s and don’ts and other vital details, please kindly see the original article on the Dubai Bus.
The waterbus is a marine transportation system. Each waterbus boasts air-condition and comfortable seats and in this way, they are a comfortable way of commuting some parts of Dubai as far as the waterbuses can cover. Unlike the case of the Dubai metro, tram and bus, you can’t transfer from or to the waterbus. And its fare is different. While you can use the Nol card or ticket for the payment fare, the waterbus’s fare is fixed; it is AED 2 for one trip which must not exceed 3 hours. In sum, sadly, the Dubai waterbus and watertaxi are in abeyance.
See original port: The Dubai Monorail.
The Palm Jumeirah is an Island off the shore of Dubai. It’s not covered by Dubai Metro, Tram, Bus, and Waterbus. Although, the Dubai taxi covers it. In addition, a special solution was provided to cover the Palm with a different and that’s the monorail. The monorail is a transit system designed to convey 106 passengers at a time through the length of the Palm Jumeirah — from the foot, through the trunk and crescent of the Palm to its peak, where “Atlantis, The Palm” is.
While the taxi can take you from the foot of the Palm to its peak, the monorail is preferred by tourists not only because it’s more inexpensive, but especially because it gives you an aerial view of the palm, a view you cannot get in the taxi. The monorail is operated by a different management from the RTA; it is operated by Serco Group plc. In this way, its fares are significantly more expensive than Dubai’s public transport (Metro, Tram and Bus).
The monorail is a three-carriage train, and is automated and thus driverless, driving at the maximum speed of 70km/h. The vehicle is safe to travel in as it is fireproof, among other things. The monorail system has only three stations which are The Gateway Station Palm jumeirah at the foot of the Palm, Al Ittihad Park Station at the heart of The Palm’s Al Ittihad Park (this gives access to the Palm Jumeirah central park, myriad residences and the Golden Mile Galleria Mall) and The Atlantis Aquaventure Station.
If you’re visiting the Palm with a car, it should interest you to know that the monorail boasts free car parking spaces at the Gateway Station.
For more information on the monorail such as that on its timings, fares etc, please see the original post on The Palm Jumeriah Monorail.
See original post: The Dubai Trolley.
500-acre large, Downtown is an expansive area. The Dubai trolley thus is a felicitous solution to help pedestrians get across all or part of the 7-km loop of Downtown.
The Dubai trolley is a tram system owned by Emaar. Passengers can either seat in the air-conditioned seating or on the open-top of the heritage-styled double-decker trolley. Built in the USA by TIG/m, the trolley can convey up to 50 passengers. While the it has stations, you can hop on and off it at locations of your choice. And notwithstanding where you got in or off at, the service is free.
For more information such as information on the trolley’s timings, please kindly see the original post on the Dubai Trolley.
Careem Bike is a bike-renting service offered to facilitate mobility in a cost-effective manner, saving public-transport-dependent commuters the hassle of micro-mobility, thanks to Dubai’s Road & Transport Authority and Careem, an Uber company.
With the Careem bike, you can now commute distances Dubai’s metros, trams and buses don’t cover, and which would be pounds foolish to travel through on a taxi. The Careem Dubai Bike fare (charge, cost, price, fee or rate) is relatively cost-effective.
Careem bikes which are painted green are pedal-assisted. This means you don’t do all the pedaling work thanks to bikes’ electric motors. Once you start pedaling the bike its motor powers up automatically. This helps the rider to gain more speed than the mere effort of their pedaling. In other words, you exert less energy in pedaling the bicycle. And, with the bike’s 3 gears of pedaling speed, you are even surer of more convenience.
You wouldn’t worry about some safety nuances as the bicycle comes with a loud bell, several reflectors and self-powered LED lights, so the bike is easily seen by cars and other cyclists.
Are you very tall? Or you are very big? Careem Bike was designed to serve even the tall and the thick as its seat is adjustable and its frame is sturdy. Just at the bottom of the seat is the bike’s black lever that allows you to adjust the seat to suit your height. And with the seat’s post’s numbers, you get help in remembering your height setting.
Here under are the rates, prices, charges, fare, fees or costs (however you refer to it) of the Careem Dubai Bike service.
For more on the Careem bike, please see Careem Bikes
See original post: The Nol Card.
The Nol Card is the only accepted payment method for the Dubai Metro, Tram, Bus and Waterbus. The Nol card is also the payment method for Dubai’s public parking. There are different types of Nol cards. There is the Nol silver card, the gold, the blue and the Nol red ticket.
The Nol silver card is anonymous and has the capacity of AED 5000 e-purse. It costs AED 25, comes with AED 19 e-purse value and is valid for five years. You can top it up and use it for all of Dubai’s public means of transportation.
The Nol gold card has exactly the same features as the silver except that it lends you access onto the Dubai Metro’s first class carriage (Gold Class) at an exclusive or a premium charge.
The Nol blue card also has all the characteristics of the silver card. But unlike it, it is not anonymous but personalized; it is attributed to you which means if it were stolen and were used by someone else, it could be identified as a stolen card. With the card, your card balance is secure if your card gets lost or stolen. The card costs AED 70, comes with AED 20 value and lasts for five years.
This card is the perfect fit for students, senior citizens and people with disabilities as with it they can enjoy special fares for different concession types of the Nol blue card. Also, if you are a Dubai resident or frequent it and you’d be loading your card with huge amounts of money, the Nol blue card is your best fit.
For more information on the Nol Card including specific information on the different Nol cards, and information on the different concession types of the Nol blue card, please kindly read the original post on the Nol Card.
It is quite easy to use the Nol card. All you need to do is place it on the card reader at either the entrance or exit gates of the Metro or Water Bus stations; the entrance of every Dubai public bus and on all RTA parking meters. This process has been dubbed “Touch and Go”.
Note: In most cases you will not need to remove your Nol card from your wallet to check in. Other cards in your wallet will remain unaffected by your Nol card. Although, you will fail to check in if you have more than one Nol card in your wallet.
It is important to check out. This enables the Nol card to calculate your correct fare. When you check-out, the card reader will show you the remaining balance on your Nol card. If you don’t check-out, your Nol card will always deduct the maximum fare. You’d, in other words, be overcharged.
Note: If you think the public transport operator charged you incorrectly, you can file a complaint online at Nol e-Services. Alternatively, you can file a claim by calling the RTA Customer Service at 800 90 90 or visit any of the ticket offices.
The RTA Smart Drive lets you navigate through Dubai with relative ease. This on-board route planning and exploration app operates without mobile Internet connection and provides turn-by-turn voice and visual instruction, automatic re-routing and speed limit alerts while displaying points of interest along the drive.
This award winning app is designed to support roads and public transport users. Download below:
This app enables users to save time with things pertaining to the Nol Card. Specially designed for NOL cards, its features include NOL card top-up, balance check, and transaction history. Download Below:
This journey planner app is an efficient, real-time map that uses GPS-based location tools. App features allow users to view routes, stops, major landmarks and departures, and help plan journeys using metro, buses and marine transport routes.
Note:
There’re other transportation apps by the RTA not listed here, particularly on the basis of relevance.
Explore DubaiTourPro.com and stay guided!
References:
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