No swipe, no sweat: Your guide to riding skip-stop Dubai Metro on New Year’s Eve

A total number of 1.1 million passengers are expected to use the Dubai Metro in the period from 4pm, December 31, to 4pm the next day.

In order to cope with this record number of commuters, the Road and Transport Authority (RTA) has taken a number of measures.

Using the Metro between these hours will be nothing like the usual, especially when traveling to or from one of the stations serving Dubai’s main events, taking place in Downtown Dubai and Jumeirah Palm Island.

Three stations – Burj Khalifa, Financial Center and Business Bay – are expected to serve largest number of passengers.

Commuters will not be required to check in at these stations during peak hours, said Muhammad Mudharreb, Director Rail Operations at the RTA.

However, this does not mean a free ride on the Metro. Once the passenger checks out, the system will recognise that he embarked on one of the ‘event stations’. The fare will be calculated and deducted upon checkout, explained al Mudharreb.

Further, the RTA announced that it will be operating a skip-stop system for the metro during the period.

Explaining the system, al Mudharreb said: “One train will stop at Business Bay, while skipping Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall. The next train will skip Business Bay, stop at Burj Khalifa and skip Financial Center, while a third train will skip the first two stations and stop at Financial Center.”

After midnight, there will be a 2.5 minute time lapse between every train. But where the skip-stop system is applied, this means that passengers will have to wait for the next train for 7.5 minutes, Al Mudharreb pointed out.

Although the system will be applied after midnight until needed, it may also be operated before midnight, depending on the crowd.

“If certain stations face high volumes of passengers before midnight, we might decide to skip certain stations, in order not to let off more people on these stations. In this way we hope to manage the flow of passengers at metro stations better.”

After midnight, when passengers will be at the metro stations mostly to get on the train, crowds are expected to swell especially at the event stations. In previous years, queues of passengers reached as far as the street side, and the Metro was packed up to its maximum capacity.

“We want to emphasise that it is very important passengers top up their Nol card before reaching the metro on New Year’s Eve,” said al Mudharreb. “It will make a huge difference if people top up their cards from home, instead of using the facilities at the metro station.”

Despite the expected crowd, the RTA calls upon all community members to use the Metro and public transport rather than private vehicles, pointing out that the team’s plan has taken into account the demand for public transport and provided whatever is required to accommodate the growing numbers of potential riders.

 

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