Public transport in Dubai is represented by metro, buses, and trams. Our tourists prefer to use taxis or transfers, but to use public transport is worth at least for the sake of immersion in a cultural environment, let alone economy.
The most popular mode of transport is the metro, we wrote about it here in detail, buses and trams are used less often. The bus network is not as extensive as the metro, and more often just links one metro station to another. However, buses in Dubai are very comfortable, equipped with air conditioning and interactive cards. By the way, bus stops in Dubai are also different from the usual ones – usually, they are a spacious closed glass room, inside which people wait for their bus in cool and comfortable, but meet the usual open stops.
Buses are prohibited from eating, drinking, smoking, transporting bulky or dirty things, as well as animals. In addition, buses may not hand out literature or pamphlets of a religious or political nature or call for anything. Of course, you can’t travel without a ticket.
Note that the first three rows of bus seats are for women and children.
For a bus to stop at a bus stop, you have to give up or wait for someone to do it for you.
To get off the bus, you have to press a special red button on the way out.
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The cost of travel in Dubai depends on the length of the trip. The city is divided into zones and the more zones you want to travel, the more you will pay. Maps with marked zones are located at all bus and tram stops as well as in the metro. The map of zones is as follows:
The tickets used here are so-called Nol-cards, which can be one-time (up to 10 trips) and repeated (for 5 years).
Nol-cards are valid for all types of public transport. So from the subway, you can take the bus and then the tram and you don’t have to buy any other kind of ticket.
One-time ticket (red Nol-card)
Such tickets are considered ideal for tourists. A ticket is a card that can be replenished in a vending machine or in a cash register and paid for by it. You can use the card for a maximum of 10 single trips or pay for 5-day trips.
Daytime travel means that you can make unlimited trips by metro, tram, and bus during the day. The day trip will cost 20 dirhams (5.5 USD). You can buy up to 5-day trips with one red card each.
The price of the card itself is 6 dirhams, of which 4 dirhams fall on the card itself and you can use them for the first trip. For example, the cheapest trip costs 4 dirhams, so if you buy a card for 6 dirhams, you can go right away.
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The Blue Nol Card is valid for 5 years. The card is named, in order to buy it you need to register online. Value of 70 dirhams (of which 20 are transferred to the card account).
The Silver Nol Card is valid for 5 years. The value of 25 dirhams (19 of them are transferred to the account).
The Gold Nol Card is valid for 5 years. It is used for trams and subways in Gold. Value of 25 dirhams (19 of them transferred to the account).
Bus tickets are sold in the ticket offices located at metro stations and bus stations, or in special ticket vending machines installed at metro or bus or tram stations. These machines take credit cards.
Often our tourists prefer a public taxi or rent a car. You can catch a taxi in the street or ask your hotel receptionist to call you a taxi by telephone. The UAE is renowned for low fuel prices, and therefore for taxis (3-6 dirhams per landing and 1.6 dirhams (0.5 dollars) per kilometer, the minimum travel cost of 6 dirhams).
Another convenient way to get to the city from the airport is the Sky Bus, which runs between downtown Dubai and the international airport. The buses depart from each of the three airport terminals. Tickets can be purchased at the airport information counters. There you will be sold a special travel card, which here is called Nol-card, and on it, you can put the sum necessary for a transfer (there on the counter). The fare is 15 dirhams ($4). It is also available at the subway or bus stations and at the reception of major hotels. When buying a ticket please specify that you need Sky Bus.
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If you want to visit as many places as possible, for example, to see the neighboring emirates, and do not want to depend on public transport, you can rent a car. One of the most popular and reliable car rental services is EconomyBookings. Rental costs 25-45 dollars per day depending on the make of the car. Note that the more days you use the car, the cheaper it will be every day. You can select a car from this link.
Tours are held every few hours from 8.50 am to 5.00 am. The tours are night and day, with visits to key attractions and, in some cases, even to the capitals of the neighboring emirates of Abu Dhabi and Sharjah.
The price of the tour is from $25 per person (so much for tour tours of the city’s brightest attractions), safari tours or visiting an oasis in the desert (from $50), tours to neighboring emirates. Tour description and schedule on the tour operator’s website.
Dubai’s tour offices offer a variety of original excursions, such as the mountain safari on the Hajar Mountains, which includes a trip through the desert along the course of an ancient river and a holiday in the middle of a flowering oasis, as well as dinner overlooking the Indian Ocean and swimming on the best beach of the coast (from $130 per person).
