Soon, a world class metro will be available to ease commuting through all Dubai’s shopping and business districts. Until then, if you do not have a car, you can move around in Dubai by taxi, bus or by local boats. All the information you need here:
Taxis
Taxi is one of the best ways for Getting Around in Dubai. All taxis are new, comfortable and reliable. In some areas you might find older taxis with no meters in them. In the interest of avoiding any multilingual arguments, its advisable to only hire taxis with the meter which can be visibly seen on the dashboard.
Typically, taxis drivers will take you directly to where you need to go without problems even though at times it will seem that you are getting the scenic route. Be advised that the nature of the road designs is somewhat U-turn happy, at no fault of the driver.
Taxi Service charges:
Starting Meter Charge(Flag Fall)
Day Time (6:00am to 10:00pm) : Dh. 3.00
Night Time (10:00pm to 6:00am) : Dh. 3.50
Dubai Int’l Airport (Station Wagons) : Dh. 20.00
Running Meter Charges:
Dh. 1.00 for every 662.25 metres (Dh. 1.51 per kilometre)
Taxi Speak:
Taxi drivers in Dubai may not speak English very well, but they do know enough to follow your instructions if need be. A quick lesson in Taxi language:
Go straight through the round a bout: “roundabout-straight”
Go straight: “seeda”
Go right on the round about then take the first left: “roundabout-right, first left”
Take a left at the light: “first light left”
You get the idea.
Note: If you call a taxi instead of waiting for one in the street, there is an extra charge. To reserve or book a taxi, call any of the following numbers:
Al Ghazal Taxi – 04 853000
Cars Taxi – 04 2693344
City Taxi – 04 3331110
Emirates Taxi – 04 3394455
Golden Taxi – 04 3365444
Metro Taxi – 04 2673222
National Taxi – 04 3390002
Bus Services
Buses are also very important part of Dubai city transport. The city has a properly managed bus service system that proves very helpful for the visitors for Getting Around in Dubai. Bus services are operated on 62 routes linking various residential and the industrial areas with the two central business districts. Over 450 busy bus stops are equipped with point to point timetables that provide the waiting passengers with time schedules of the bus services passing through specific bus stops. Passengers can obtain bus timetables, fares and connecting services either from bus stops or by calling the toll free phone 800 48 48.
” Public buses service details
” Public transport route map
” Bus timetable
” Bus fares
” Dubai international airport bus service
Water Transport
Dubai Municipality is restoring the heritage of Dubai by maintaining the traditional way of water transport and special attention has been given to the preservation of Abras (small traditional boats used to cross the creek)
Motorized Abras
An abra is a small motorized dhow, A dhow is a traditional Arab sailing vessel with one or more lateen sails. It is primarily used along the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula, India, and East Africa. A larger dhow may have a crew of approximately thirty while smaller dhows have crews typically ranging around twelve. that can seat around 20 passengers. About 150 Abras ply on two routes to and from four stations carrying about 15 million passengers annually. The fare is cheap at 50 fils and the cruise across the creek takes less than 10 minutes. Pleasure trips are available at Dh 50 per hour.
For your own personal wheels, you can always visit ZOOZi online to find a great deal on a used car, as well as various other means of transportation such as boats, yachts, jet ski’s motorcycles and bikes. ZOOZi is Dubai’s expat community’s trusted source for classifieds, jobs, property and more.