Getting Around Town

So I've been here about week as I start writing post #2, so far so good on the publication schedule--let's see how this continues. For those of you that know me more personally know that upon arrival, wherever I go, I try to hit the ground running. Part of this is a surge of motivation that has come over me after nearly two months of preparations for coming here: since January my time was dominated by packing up and shipping my life, selling what I no longer wanted to be a part of it, and giving away a great deal of things that no longer had any value. I am so enthusiastic to finally be here and meet the friends of friends I've heard about for months, or the alumna from my Alma Mater (yes, there are seven here!) I've connected with, and to begin that grueling process known as the job search. To do so, I of course cannot say in the air-conditioned flat in the shadows of the Burj Khalifa. Getting to these various coffee dates (often with both coffee, and dates) and to cross other items on my to-do list has required a better understanding of the transportation system (or sometimes lack thereof), and other options in Dubai as well as in the U.A.E. in general. 

I am stubbornly against taking taxis all the time, but this is by far the most frequently used means of transportation for those living in the more urban areas of the emirate. Some city denizens also have cars since, as Cher Horowitz would say, "Everywhere we go has valet", and parking is less of an issue than in other large cities. There IS a metro here, as well as a bus system, and the department of transportation has just finished putting a tram in the Marina section of town, but Dubai is at once such a sprawling, vast city, and one that, very much like New York, never stops and demands a great deal of those who work there, that these options are for some simply not practical. 

The Dubai Tram tracks at the Marina

I don't mean that the commute would be 20 minutes on a bus as opposed to 15 in a cab, I mean that there simply are not enough metro stations in each neighborhood for the system to be convenient for everyone and to go anywhere. The metro is much more like a commuter train that has one main stop in each neighborhood or by certain landmarks (in Dubai's case, often the malls and burj's), rather than a network that links every zone of the city. So far, because you can always assume that more construction will take place in Dubai, there are two lines. The Red line that goes along the Sheikh Zayed Road--a long thoroughfare that runs perpendicular to the Arabian Gulf, linking "older" Dubai and the Downtown Area to newer quarters like Marina--and the Green one that essentially forms a U-shape that links with the Red line at two different points. 

                 The elevated metro tracks along Sheikh Zayed Road                                            Sheikh Zayed Road--car lanes and metro tracks   

You see, before understanding the actual scale of Dubai, it really does seem like a functional and convenient system. It also seems that there is a lot less distance between each station. My first time visiting the city, I had to go "just" two stations away for a lunch, but considering it would take about 15 minutes to walk to the metro from where I was staying, and then another 10 to 15 minutes from there to get to my lunch, the pedestrian city-girl in me decided to try to walk. Google maps indicated that would only take about 20, so it seemed like the easiest option. What Google maps failed to indicate, however, was that sidewalks can just suddenly end (Shel" Silverstein must have passed by here), and one can find oneself on a multiple-lane highway, on an unpaved dusty patch of a work zone, or, a combination of both. This is precisely why people take taxis everywhere. When noticing encountering this, the even more stubborn girl side of me decided to try to find another way based on how the buildings were laid out (I did't have internet on my phone at the time so I had to rely on my somewhat questionable sense of direction). After several failed attempts at arriving at the skyscraper I could frustratingly SEE from my highway path, I gave up and hailed down a cab. Another fun surprise awaited me upon leaving the taxi, when the driver asked me to pay 10 dirhams, whereas the meter only read 7,50. There is in fact a rule stipulating that the minimum taxi fare is 10 dirhams (well, at the time it was 10, now it is 12), but of course, not knowing that the obnoxious New Yorker in be began to argue with the driver until, realizing that I was terribly late thanks to my roundabout attempt of arrive by foot,  I again gave in and paid him the full 10. So, lesson learned about the use of taxis here. It is something that I am going to have to get used to taking on a more regular basis, all while jumping on any opportunity to walk or take the metro when I can--both for my own sanity and for the hopes that it will encourage others to do so.

Once actually in the metro, it is really quite well established. LIke any modern system, display screens announce the arrival of the next few trains, each station is announced in both Arabic and English (by a very chipper British man), and there is a variety of options for tickets and zones. 

Metro Station Tour

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Dubai metro is that there are different categories of metro car. While the majority of the cars are just for us plebeians, one car (usually at the kaboose) is designated the Gold car for V.I.P. members. I would describe it for you, but I have yet to go, or even see, inside. 

Because of the congested nature of rush hour here, when convenient, people from all levels of society here sometimes opt for the metro for at least part of their commute. Rather than taking a taxi all the way to one's work location, some will take a cab to a nearby metro stop and then take the train to their final destination. I had an encounter with this kind of split transportation last week when I went to meet a woman from my College for coffee at her house. By coffee, I mean a kind of Arabian high-tea, and by house I mean sprawling villa complete with a three-story aquarium column that is the centerpiece of her atrium. I should have expected something like this when, after indicating me to get off the Metro at the Nakeel stop on the Red Line, her driver would come get me...in a light blue Bentley. 

Back to the metro, another car that has special designation and that I have actually used are the female only cars. While unlike the gold car these are not physically separated from the rest of the train, metro authorities come in regularly to verify that these wagons are left for the women-folk. When I can take the metro, I always opt for this car. It is not that I feel anymore uncomfortable to step into a crowded metro car here than say, New York, London or Paris at rush hour (especially in the scorching heat of summer), but there is something just slightly more comforting about being squished like a sardine in a car full of females. 

Female-only metro car entrance

To wrap things up for this week's article, here's another way that I have been comforted by the Dubai metro. I was coming back from a meeting in Abu Dhabi the other day in one of the standard intra-city busses. These vehicles are essentially coach busses, complete with air-conditioning, sometimes bathrooms, sometimes wifi, and always an all-female section, that go from the main bus stops of each city about every twenty minutes. While in a car the trip only takes about 1 hour, on a bus, the duration is nearly doubled because of where each station is located in the city and because of traffic. I was exhausted after running around in yet another city I barely knew, and when I finally got on the return bus, I almost immediately fell asleep. I woke up an hour later, somewhat annoyed that I still had half the trip to go, and that I recognized nothing outside. I could make out random gas stations, road-side restaurants, and mosques in between the otherwise vast and barren patches of desert. 

What a good part of the Dubai-Abu Dhabi trip looks like during the day: electricity towers, construction zones and sand

I was surprisingly comforted when, after a while, I noticed the elevated tracks of the metro starting up again, meaning that I was almost home. I think part of this feeling was simply just the relief of actually recognizing something after a day of seeing new buildings and different roads and unfamiliar landscape--but another part was how I really felt like I was going home, that even though it had only been a few days, I felt at ease in my new city. 

The comforting start of the Dubai metro at its terminus station (revisited during daytime)