Car-crazy Dubai gears up for first much-needed Gulf metro

Dubai launches next week the first metro network in the Arab Gulf region but it remains to be seen whether motorists in the congested city state, where petrol is subsidised, will be won over.

The first line of a two-line luxury, driverless, automated metro system is set to open for business on Wednesday, but transport authorities now say only 10 of its 29 stations will be ready for the symbolic date of 09/09/09.

The challenge will now be to lure motorists enamoured with their petrol-guzzling cars to leave them behind and ride the metro in a city where traffic jams have always been a nightmare for road authorities.

There are more than one million vehicles registered in Dubai, with cars and buses accounting for some 88 per cent of the total, according to the Roads and Transport Authority.

This represents a car for nearly every two residents in Dubai, which is home to almost 1.6 million people - mostly expatriates, according to official figures and more than two million according to estimates.

Petrol is also subsidised across the oil-rich United Arab Emirates and, until recently, car loans were easy to obtain.

"Dubai Metro aims to ease traffic congestion and reduce travelling time, which in effect will reduce air pollution caused by cars and improve air quality," RTA said in a statement. But none of these issues seem of any concern to Emirati banker Saeed Ali, who is not ready to give up his 4X4 for the fancy blue metro trains which are already pacing the mostly elevated tracks in preparation.

"I don't think that I'll use the metro... I prefer to use my car," said the 24-year-old, although there is a metro station near his house and another near his office.

"There are many things in our life that we would need to abandon if environmental concerns were to be taken in consideration, not just cars," said Mr Ali.

He said it takes him 20 minutes to get to work and prefers that to having to cope with crowds waiting to ride the metro.

Several expatriate car owners agreed that driving is more convenient and comfortable than having to walk to and from metro stations in Dubai, which can be miserable most of the year due to high levels of heat and humidity.

But many low-paid expatriates who rely on public transport or car-pooling, are ecstatic about the metro and cannot wait to enjoy the ride.

"Definitely, I will use the metro" said Bilal Ahmed, a 29-year-old Pakistani salesman who rides the bus to move around town.

"Time is very important for our business. Buses are always late and we have to wait for hours for an empty one to come," he said.

Ahmed spends 4.50 dirhams (€0.85) to travel by bus some 25 kilometres from central Dubai to the Jebel Ali industrial zone.

The RTA says that metro fares will be affordable for everyone. A trip from one end of the 52-kilometre Red Line to the other will cost 5.80 dirhams.