Out and About in Dubai

This morning on the highway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, heavy fog and the usual crazy driving resulted in a massive pile-up. Gulf News is currently reporting over 200 vehicles involved in the crash, 25 caught on fire, and 6 people killed while Khaleej Times is reporting 284 people injured and 3 killed.

Heavy fog seems to be occurring on a monthly basis since DB and I moved here. I remember the one and only time I drove in the Dubai fog - I was on SZR where the speed limit is 120 kph (75 mph but people tend to drive much faster) - first thing I did was turn on my headlights, I stayed in the slower lanes and tried to maintain a safe distance between myself and the cars in front of me.

To my dismay, all around me, it seemed as if no one else noticed that there was decreased visibility. People were driving like they always do - fast and furious, with frequent lane changes, no headlights on (but many with their hazard lights on -why? I don’t know). They were probably also on their cell phones with no hands-free device and probably not even wearing seat belts.

So I can only imagine what would happen if all of a sudden, while driving in reduced visibility, at speeds over 120 kph, on your cell phone, or tailgating when you suddenly come upon a road block - in today’s case - that road block became a 200-vehicle accident.

200 vehicles. Holy shit.

Photo taken from gulfnews.com:

Tags: transport | 1 comment »

Edit (2-20-08) to include this link to the RTA Route Map

When I first told people that I was moving to Dubai, I was asked a few times if I had to cover up my body and face like in other Muslim countries. Luckily, Dubai is pretty liberal in that respect. Ladies are not required to wear the abaya (black flowing gown) or cover up their head. However, many UAE nationals choose to do so as it is their national dress and I would also think it is a sense of national pride. I have been noticing that the abayas and headscarves - although always black, have quite interesting (sparkly) trim and fabric. The gown is cut long so that it sweeps the floor and it is always interesting to see which high heels they are wearing underneath. Yikes! I digress.

So although I can wear tank tops and shorts in public, and bikinis at the beach, there are a few “rules” that females should follow in Dubai. One of which is that ladies are “requested” to sit at the front of the bus. I believe there are a couple seats in the front that are supposed to be ladies-only (maybe 4 or 6?) so if they are all taken, no more ladies are allowed onto the bus nor are we allowed to stand. I guess if you are lucky, a man might give up his seat for you but I have a feeling that that is a rare occasion given there are so many men swarming to get onto the bus in the first place. But hey, I’ve only ridden the bus twice, second time being today, so what do I know?

After the success of my first bus experience, I decided to give it another go as DB had the car today and I hate wasting money on cab rides - no matter how cheap it is, it can’t beat the bus. Anyway, it’s also better for the environment to use mass transit.

So out I went to the unmarked bus stop, armed with reading material (currently reading Running a Hotel on the Roof of the World: Five Years in Tibet. A quite humorous account about the first Holiday Inn in Llasa, Tibet)

This time, there were about 15-20 people waiting for the bus. Ah, rush hour. And I’m sure another, oh, 50-100 will pop out of the bushes as soon as the bus arrives. Three to five minutes later, not one, but two buses arrive. Ah, ye old bus-bunching game.

I got on after fighting my way through (again, what’s the matter with queues?!), not too worried about seats as I’m only the second stop on the x25 line. Last time DB and I rode the bus, the driver told us 2 Dirhams ($0.55) so I gave him 2 Dirhams. Well, my ticket says Dhs 1.50 so either he pocketed the difference or I didn’t take my change - I don’t recall him making a move to give me change. I know it’s barely 2 pennies but still!

Two more stops later, the driver was only letting ladies in while hordes of men swarmed the bus, faces inches from the door, trying to get on. What’s going on? There was no one standing inside my bus and it didn’t seem particularly full. But he didn’t let a single man board. At every stop, he would pull up to the curb, watch the men outside standing shoulder to shoulder, at least 3-rows deep, and then scream, “ONLY LADIES, LADIES ONLY” and if there were no ladies, he would quickly accelerate away. Maybe my bus was only picking up ladies and the bus that was behind us would pick up the men? But it’s rush hour and there’s standing room!

As my stop got near, I pressed the “Stop” button on the overhead console. Is it supposed to DING? Well, it didn’t ding and I started to get a little worried. Maybe there’s an indicator by the driver that alerts him when I need to get off? Why isn’t STOP showing up on the fancy LCD screen that’s supposed to tell you where the next stop is but has been stuck at “Ritz Carlton” for the last 5 stops? The driver had been stopping for ladies only so what if there were no ladies at the next stop? What was my contingency plan? I guess I could walk back from the next stop - could be miles! - or DB would have to pick me up. That would be pathetic! What was the point of taking the bus if I had to be picked up!?

I was about to scream, DRIVER STOP! when another lady got up to get off and the lady next to me moved over so I could get out. Whew! Crisis averted. Now to battle my way out of the bus. As ladies are supposed to exit at the front of the bus I found myself staring at another huge horde of men already elbowing each other aside, thinking they were going to get on this bus. I steeled my face and readied myself for Exit Maneouver. I’m a New Yorker, I can fight crowds! But again, the driver screamed out, “ONLY LADIES, LADIES ONLY!” and I managed to get off safe and sound as the only lady waiting for the bus made her way on.

As I got off the bus, I noticed that the other bus that was behind me did not stop to pick up passengers either and drove right by - also no standees. These men have been standing here for awhile, two buses in sight and none allow male passengers to board - not even to stand? I know I have seen public buses here packed with standees - so what gives? - a rather bizarre incident in my book. Is this common?

Tags: transport | 6 comments »

Edit (2-20-08) to include this link to the RTA Route Map

I did mention in this post that I had a rain story to tell. It involves public transportation in Dubai which is pretty lacking here (only buses right now, a metro is under construction) which is why people prefer to drive or cab if they can afford it. And, petrol is cheap.

The RTA (Roads and Transportation Authority) focuses more on marketing cliches and a lot of talk rather than action, follow-through, or real service. For example, the RTA said last September that bus intervals would only be 10 minutes apart at most (Ha! So they’re telling me that when I’m stuck in rush-hour traffic, a bus is going to show up every 10 minutes while I haven’t moved an inch), they said there’d be a computerized passenger information system (How about just giving us a map online? I can’t even get that nor a bus timetable to save my life and they talk about a computerized system? I challenge anyone to find a Dubai bus map or timetable online), and don’t even get me started on the so-called air-conditioned bus shelters (ok, all I’m going to say about them is that it would have been nice if they had been open and usable when it was p*ssing down rain last week and people were standing OUTSIDE of them getting soaked. They are as useful as a palm tree since most of the ones I’ve seen are taped CLOSED. Come to think of it, a palm tree would probably provide more protection from sun and rain).

Ah, back to my bus-riding story. The first time I took the bus in Dubai was last week with DB when the cab we had called the night before decided to leave us stranded. DB had left the car at the office as he had gone drinking with the boys. We normally catch a cab at the Hilton that is right across from us but as it was forecasted to rain, we thought we’d play it safe and pre-order a cab for 7:45 the next morning. We all know cabs are a dime a dozen and always honking at you when you don’t need them but when it rains, they’re either off-duty or no where to be found.

At 7:40am the cabbie called - to tell us he was downstairs, so we thought - but he was actually calling to tell us that he had picked up an airport customer so would NOT be picking us up. I think DB went off the deep end at this point. I cannot repeat for the sake of PG-13-ness the words that flew out of his mouth. We tried but could not get through to any cab company that morning (we can’t get through on a sunny day, let alone a rainy day).

So out we went into the rain hoping to hail a cab on the street. Outside, everywhere we looked there were people already staking out each corner trying to do the same thing. DB had an important meeting at 8:30 so we decided to try the bus. I had read that the new x25 bus route runs express, was utilizing only new buses, and noticed that it conveniently goes up the road to DB’s work - seemed promising. Now, if only we knew where the bus stop was and if we could pay with cash, coins, MetroCard??

We stood in front of a building where we thought the bus stop was (deduced from being stuck behind the bus a few times in our car) as there was no bus post nor bus shelter, nothing. Luckily the bus came within 5 minutes to pluck us out of the cold, rainy, blustery morning. DB used the 5 minutes of waiting time to call up the cabbie again and give him another earful for being irresponsible, greedy, and that he would report his *ss. Honestly, not sure if the cabbie gave a d*mn.

Although we seemed to be the only people waiting for the bus, as soon as it showed up, 10-15 people appeared out of thin air to push their way in front of us. Where did they come from? Were they hiding underneath the parked cars? Haven’t they heard of something called a line? or queue?

We told the driver where we wanted to go and he told us, “Two Dirhams!” DB paid the driver a fiver, got his 1 Dirham change, and proceeded to sit next to me in the front of the bus. That’s when I had to tell him that he couldn’t sit there as only ladies can sit in the front. So he got up and went towards the back. Why didn’t he just sit behind me? Silly.

It took about 35 minutes to reach our destination which wasn’t too bad as it normally takes us 15 minutes to drive ourselves. There was a lot of serious flooding on the roads which reinforced our decision even more to get an SUV.

We played a bit of real life Frogger when we got off the bus as there didn’t seem to be a crosswalk anywhere for miles. Mm-hm. Typical.

Tags: transport | 3 comments »