Public Transportation: UAE

I think one of the biggest thing to consider when you’re traveling is the modes of transportation of the country you’re visiting. So many issues to consider: is it safe? is it cheap? is it clean? Not unless you plan on walking around the whole time you’re on vacation... If you're planning on visiting my beloved home-country-at-the-moment-until-I-move-to-France, lemme give you some tips. UAE is a very organized country, in my opinion. Everything here seems part of a huge plan where every corner has it’s use and that everything has to go smoothly or else the whole system collapses. Well... not really like that but I’d like to think so. There are different kinds of public transportation in UAE. But I apologize if I’ll only elaborate more in Sharjah (where I live) and Dubai (where I work). There are taxis, buses, trains and boats. All of these are owned by the government so I guess that's a good thing.

TAXIS here have a different system than the ones I’m used to in PH. In PH we have the flat rate, let’s say 40Php. Once you ride, the meter starts at 40 and it just adds up as you go. Here in UAE, the minimum is 10AED.. It starts at 4AED and even tho you’ve arrived at your destination at 6AED, for example, you’ll still have to pay 10AED instead of 6AED. But if it goes more than 10, then you’ll pay the exact price on the meter. That’s just around one emirate. If you go out, like what we do when we come from Dubai Mall to our flat in Sharjah, it’s still the same system but it just adds up 20AED.

Pros: the taxi drivers I’ve encountered are nice. Prolly just 5% of them were crabby; there are tons of taxis everywhere, the taxi queue on malls may be long but they never run out of taxis; the cabs itself aren't old, they change it every few years, I guess they don't allow old cars to run around the city?

Cons: if you’re new here, the smell is the definite con. Another one is some of the drivers can’t speak English very well so you have to be patient in giving them directions.

I like the BUSES here in UAE. They’re clean and they follow a strict system. Half of the bus is for women and children and the other half are for men. Even if there are long queues on the bus, if you’re a woman, you’re the priority. For the double-decker buses, the top deck is open for everyone, not just for men. But men and women are discouraged to sit together, not unless you know each other. For the fare, it is cheap. There are these re-loadable Nol cards for buses and trains so you just swipe it in when you get up the bus and you’re set. But buses that go out of the emirate doesn't use Nol cards, just tickets.

Pros: whether it’s full or not, it leaves on time; there is another bus right away; it only stops at bus stops so it’s not annoying when it stops like every corner.

Cons: traffic, they have to follow a fixed route so traffic or no traffic, they have to.

My favorite of all, the TRAINS. The driver-less trains. It’s fast, it’s clean and cheap. There are 3 parts of the trains here, one is the gold class and the other one is silver. The silver is divided into 2, for men and women. The silver is basically the regular one, and the gold is twice the price. I always, always prefer the gold class. It’s quiet, it’s not crowded. You’ll get an 80% chance to sit down when you’re in gold. I tried to ride on silver 2 weeks ago and it just left me so crabby even tho I got a seat, there were tons of people, I couldn't read my book. So I swore I will never ride on silver ever again.

Pros:rules are rules, if your card is silver, you stay in silver. There are random check ups on random stations, they’ll let you swipe your card and you could get fined if you’re caught in the wrong class; the next train arrives no later than 5 minutes.

Cons: peak hours. It’s too crowded.

Then there are these WATER TAXIS, WATER BUSES and FERRIES. I haven’t been in one of those so I can’t say what the experience will be like. I shall get back to you on this one. But all I know is that it’s fast and there’s no traffic? Lol. Seriously, I will try to ride one of those soon and I’ll definitely share my thoughts.

All bus stops and train stations are air conditioned because it gets uber hot in the summer. One thing you can count on is that they are all well-maintained so I dare say you really have to follow the rules or else you'll get in trouble.

If you're traveling, it's always better to explore the city on foot, but then again it would be awful to walk on your whole trip. Plus, I don't think Dubai is one of those cities where you could just walk. It's kinda like New York, I guess, it's too busy and everyone's on the go. Plus, no matter which country you go to, it will always be dangerous at night. You just have to use your head sometimes so as not to be scammed. And just like what Jenny said, have a friend to take you around!