Getting around Dubai: The metro is cheap and quick but very crowded

Most people take the train for just a few stops and then get off. Others, however, stay longer.

The journey from Ibn Battuta, one of the first stations on the red line, to Rashidya, at the end of the line 39km away, took exactly one hour and cost less than Dh6.

At 9am, travelling north into Dubai rather than in the direction of Abu Dhabi, there is not much in the way of fellow commuters. Most people, a security guard at the station said, tend to travel the other way from Khalid Bin Al Waleed station and Deira City Centre to Jebel Ali Free Zone.

A view of Dubai International from Dubai metro.

Martin Croucher uses the Metro...

DUBAI // I was glad to get on the metro at Ibn Battuta station. The train had just begun its journey a few stops down and was almost empty.

There were a few passengers, however, dotted around: labourers on their days off dressed in faded jeans, some with their arms draped around each others’ shoulders.

At 9am, travelling north into Dubai rather than in the direction of Abu Dhabi, there is not much in the way of fellow commuters. Most people, a security guard at the station said, tend to travel the other way from Khalid Bin Al Waleed station and Deira City Centre to Jebel Ali Free Zone.

But people start to trickle in from the JLT and Marina stops and the train begins to fill up. By the time we hit Nakheel station, about 10 minutes later, there is standing room only.

As the metro comes into Mall of the Emirates, even space to lean against the carriage wall seems hard to find. Passengers hold on to overhead bars close to seats in the hope of being the first to sit down when someone gets up to leave.

“Today I’m lucky to find a seat,” said Bishnu Das, a passenger from Nepal who works in Karama. “If I’m earlier, I have to stand the whole journey and I’m very tired when I get to work.”

Most people take the train for just a few stops and then get off. Others, however, stay longer.

Norideen, from Egypt, was travelling from his home in Discovery Gardens with a suitcase, headed for the airport, which is almost at the end of the line. He said catching the metro was the most affordable way to travel around Dubai.

“Why would I catch a taxi?” he said. “It’s very cheap from here to go to the airport, and it doesn’t take that much longer.”

Most of the passengers in my carriage are men. I later find that most women who use the service are crammed into a “women and children” compartment in the front of the train, just behind Gold Class.

Sheepish-looking men are gathered around the door.

At one point in my journey, my travelling companion gets out of her seat to take some photos, and I’m placed in the unenviable position of having to fend off standing passengers from sitting there.

I explain to three different people that a friend is sitting there and that she has just gone off to take photos somewhere. I am met with uncomprehending or sceptical looks.

Just after 10am, the metro arrives at Union station and a group of men in suits leave the train, while others, including Azim Azhta from India, board.

Azim is travelling to Rashidya too, where he will have a job interview at Baskin Robbins.

At 10.17am we pull into Rashidya station. I wish Azim the best of luck in his interview and we swipe out our No1 cards at 10.18am.

The journey from Ibn Battuta, one of the first stations on the red line, to Rashidya, at the end of the line 39km away, took exactly one hour and cost less than Dh6.