Dubai commuters want Metro on Friday mornings

On Friday morning, Dubai Metro starts operating no sooner than 1pm, rather than the regular opening times, which are from 5.30am on the Red Line and 5.50am on the Green Line during the work week.

The Friday schedule has been in place since the opening of Dubai Metro and there are few suggestions that this is to change any time soon. However, it has been a constant demand of a section of Friday morning travellers that the Metro starts plying earlier than usual.

A majority of people wish for an early Friday Metro train, according to an online poll run by Emirates 24|7.

To the question ‘would you like the Metro to run on Friday morning?’ an overriding 81 per cent answered in the affirmative. While 15 per cent answered ‘maybe, but I do not feel strong about it,’ only 4 per cent did not see a reason for a Friday morning Metro.

Among the Friday early birds are professionals in certain sectors, such as healthcare, hospitality, media, and construction, but also tourists that do not mind to be out and about before noon to tour around the city.

Kyra Sanders, a British journalist working for a newspaper in Dubai, experienced the morning debacle many times until she got her driver’s license and a car.

“I was new in Dubai, and unaware that the Metro would not open till afternoon on a Friday. I had to go to work but faced a closed Metro gate.”

Many Fridays followed and the young journalist had no other choice but to take a taxi every week. “This was an expense that I had not anticipated on,” said Kyra.

“I do not work on Fridays, but I do go out, especially when having guests,” said Fawad Kabir, a Pakistani resident in Dubai. “I do not drive and I like to take my guests on the Metro. But on Fridays, I have to think of an alternative plan, it is always disappointing,” he said.

“Dubai Metro needs some maintenance hours to do the heavy maintenance it requires. We also do some operation safety or readiness drills on Friday morning,” explained Mohammed Al Mudharreb and Abdulredha Abu Hassan, Directors at the Planning and Operations Department of the Rail Agency of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

Asked if the Friday morning schedule is likely to change, they replied: “For the time being we are studying the options of when we can change the timetable on Friday and what the changes are.”

Meanwhile, alternatives can be found in public bus routes, which operate from the early morning all week long.