Sunday, September 13, 2009
Choo Choo!
A new metro system has just opened in Dubai.
Me looking strangely excited about the new metro system
It opened on Thursday, so really is brand-spanking new. One passenger was quoted in a Doha newspaper as saying, "I'm very impressed. It's very clean."
"Clean?"
Of course it's clean, it's new! Was this really the nicest thing they could find to say about it?!
We went along to use it on Friday. It was one whole day old...but already 3 out of 4 of the ticket machines had broken and so had the trains.
Not-so-functional ticket machines
However, they kept this a secret. They let you buy a ticket and go down to the platform until you got bored and asked where the trains were. Apparently they were sleeping.
Bored people waiting for a train
So Day One was unsuccessful.
No longer so excited about the trains
The only small issue was that they didn't tell us which stations were open. We were hoping to go to Dubai Mall, but as we whizzed by, it transpired that this one wasn't open...nor was the next....or the next...in fact the next station that was open was the Mall of the Emirates, which is about a million miles away. By the time we got there, we'd gone further than our tickets allowed us, so we had to buy a new one when we got to the other end...!
Still, despite all of this, it is very cool: The trains weave above and below the city, they're roomy, air-conditioned...and they are very clean...
Comments:
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The idea of metro system is very strange. The country is so small and gas prices is so low. Also, I guess people there should be giving much importance to privacy because of their cultural background. As an economist, I doubt there will be a demand for a Clean and Brand New Metro system.Is there?!
# posted by 
: 9:22 AM
: 9:22 AM
It really was needed as the traffic in Dubai was terrible, it took hours to get anywhere. However, since the financial crisis, loads of people have left, so they don't really have the same traffic issues any more.
Having said that, I still think there will be a lot of people who do use it. Although there are some very well-paid people in Dubai, there's even more people who aren't paid much - generally coming from parts of Asia. For these guys, this will be really useful...
...and obviously tourists like me too!
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Having said that, I still think there will be a lot of people who do use it. Although there are some very well-paid people in Dubai, there's even more people who aren't paid much - generally coming from parts of Asia. For these guys, this will be really useful...
...and obviously tourists like me too!
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