As Dubai finds a need for bigger boats, abras make way for water taxis

The vision in Dubai was for a fleet of large, fast ferries, shuttling tourists and commuters up and down the coast, and for a school of smaller water taxis.

The view of the Jumeriah Beach skyline from the RTA Dubai Ferry No 1on one of its' four daily cruises, which run past the Atlantis Hotel and back to the Dubai Marina.

It has been a law of human nature ever since Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet threw caution to the wind on the plunging bow of James Cameron's Titanic. Take any group of landlubbers, add a boat and water and, sooner or later, someone will come over all Rose DeWitt Bukater and do the whole arms-outstretched thing.
So it was last week for the young couple who pulled the stunt on board the shiny new blue-and-white ferry as it nosed out from its pontoon in Dubai Marina. No matter that they were standing at the stern and facing the wrong way (this being the UAE, the ferry's foredeck is the preserve of Gold Class passengers only, a pricing structure that would have prevented Kate and Leo's posturing); Dubai has a new best-kept secret - and one that offers a romantic perspective on a city that did, after all, spring up around an ancient relationship with the sea.
Ever since the Roads and Transport Authority was formed in 2005 to unify all aspects of Dubai's increasingly complex transport network, its marine department has been working on a plan to put the sea back at the heart of the city's life. Its first step, taken back in July 2006, was to introduce nine air-conditioned water buses on the Creek, each capable of carrying 36 passengers and shuttling back and forth from bank to bank to augment the 149 traditional abras, not owned but licensed and regulated by the RTA. Part of Dubai's history, the abras are vital for the thousands of commuters who use them daily and great fun for tourists, though less so at the height of the summer heat.
But the RTA's marine horizon extended far beyond the Creek.
"Water transport was the first mode of transport in Dubai - the tradition of abras on the Creek goes back more than 100 years," says Dr Khalid al Zahed, the director at the helm of the Marine Transport Department.
"But the Abras were serving just the Creek, whereas we had to serve the whole coastline of Dubai - 72 kilometres, in addition to the artificial islands."
The vision was for a fleet of large, fast ferries, shuttling tourists and commuters up and down the coast, and for a school of smaller water taxis, hailed by phone and capable of darting just about anywhere. But those plans, like so many others, ran into the stormy waters of the recession.
It takes time to build up such a fleet and the infrastructure to support it. By the time the heavy weather hit, Dubai was committed; the RTA was the proud, if slightly anxious owner of five Dh6 million water taxis, with five more on the way, and of eight ferries, each capable of carrying 100 passengers, that it had commissioned from a Dutch company for a total cost of Dh178m. It could have been an iceberg moment for Dubai's newly launched marine ambitions. Thanks to a deft change of course, however, disaster was averted.
The RTA's studies "were based on the booming situation which was interrupted by the recession", says al Zahed. "Some of our projects were made according to the plans for the World Islands, the Arabian Canal, Business Bay, so that's why we are not using the full fleet or all the water taxis. But we have worked very hard and managed to find alternative places where they need these services."
Three of the first five ferries to have been delivered are in storage. Yet since the launch of the service in March, the first two vessels have become familiar sights along the Dubai shoreline. They are the flagships of a service that will not only serve tourists but will see commuters shuttling back and forth between the two ends of Dubai. And, with five in daily use and a further five waiting in the wings, the water taxis have found a new post-recession lease of life, servicing Dubai's burgeoning shoreline hotels, now clamouring to join the growing list of stops.
"We worked closely with the hotels," says al Zahed. "We started with one, the Atlantis. Now we're getting requests from tens of hotels. Everyone wants the service."
As a result, including the nine existing water stations in the Creek, established originally for the abras, there are now almost 40 places, from al Mamzar in the north to Jebel Ali in the south, where water taxis can stop. It won't be long, surely, before someone starts calling Dubai the Venice of the Middle East.
"This month alone we have added four new stations," says al Jahed. The latest stops are at the new One and Only and Zabeel Saray hotels on the western crescent of the Palm - close to the shore opposite JBR but a substantial trek from there by road. "The water taxi gives you direct access, with no congestion, no traffic, no nothing, point to point."
Such is the demand for the service among tourists at the Atlantis that in the next week or two the RTA will be introducing scheduled trips direct to the Creek. A taxi can be hailed by calling 800 9090 and, says al Jahed: "it comes very fast; usually we have a boat there in five minutes, but if it is busy just call and 40 minutes is the maximum time".
And almost certainly you will get where you are going a lot quicker than if you went by road - air-conditioned abras on steroids, capable of more than 30 knots (55.5 kph), the taxis are Dubai's fastest mode of transport - and you and up to 10 friends will be travelling in style.
In short, says al Jahed, the water taxi is "a Rolls-Royce" - quite literally, when it comes to the engine. With outside seating for use in the cooler weather, the high-end boats also feature reclining business-class seats, complete with entertainment systems.
The taxis are now making about 180 voyages a month, but there is plenty of scope for expansion. A one-hour sightseeing trip costs Dh400 - not bad for 11 people - and scheduled one-way fares range from Dh125 for a trip from the Marina to the Atlantis to Dh345 from the Atlantis to al Seef on the Creek.
Meanwhile, about 600 people a week are using the two ferries, although right now the word "ferry" - implying a journey with a destination - is a little misleading. DF1 and DF2 (as they have been unromantically named) don't actually go anywhere in the A-to-B sense. Four times a day - at 11am and 5, 7 and 9pm - they go from A to A, one boat leaving Al Seef on the Creek for an hour-long round-trip cruise up the coast as far as the Burj Al Arab, and the other carrying tourists out from Marina Mall for a glimpse of the Palm. Tickets are Dh50 for silver class and Dh75 for gold.
All that's about to change, however, and three more ferries are being readied to take to the water. The RTA is building a transport super-hub at al Ghubaiba on the Creek, connecting bus, Metro and water services, and by July plans to start operating a daily commuter ferry service between there and the new end of Dubai. As a foretaste, there is now a one-way service at 11am on Fridays from the Marina to the Creek.
The ferries and the water taxis will, al Zahed believes, join the portfolio of symbols that help to sell Dubai around the world. They were designed with that purpose in mind - the cabin roofs of the futuristic taxis, for example, are deliberately evocative in shape and colour of the city's graceful Metro stations. "Dubai is a world-class city," he says, "and everything we do we want it to be an icon; so a couple of years from now when people see the ferries they will identify them with Dubai."
But they could also change the way the people who live here see the place. There are few coastal cities that don't look better seen from the sea, and Dubai is no exception. Taking a ride out on the ferry from the Marina, the sheer ambition of the Palm Jumeirah becomes apparent (as does the grandiloquence of the Atlantis) in a way that eludes the shore-bound. Gazing back at the JBR waterfront prompts a fresh appreciation of the chaotic vibrancy of the new Dubai.
The "wow" moment, however, comes as DF1, clipping along at 20 knots, rounds the Palm. Dead ahead, looming out of the misty distance, is downtown Dubai, a Gothamesque cityscape framed by the Burj Al Arab in the foreground and the 10-kilometre-distant Burj Khalifa looming over all. It is nothing short of beautiful.
Cue Celine Dion.