** Metro Envy ** - Wednesday 16th September

On the first full week of operation for Dubai’s Metro a, uhmm..one week late I know, commentary…

Not so plain trains…
A long, sophisticated looking tube glistens against the heat of the searing sun as it begins to accelerate away from a space-age-like construction in the middle of the very (very) natural and uninspiring desert. The stark contrast of the gliding object across the barren landscape jars into focus as a mammoth collection of half-finished buildings looms high in the background and seemingly continues as far as the eye can see. The culmination of an amazingly fast-paced four years of construction – well what else would you expect from a Japanese controlled project? – brings the first ever train system to the Middle East’s Gulf States. Whatever else you think of its desperate media marketing and credit/greed fuelled bubble growth in the past, one cannot take anything away from the kudos the completion of this project deservedly lavishes upon Dubai.

Despite not having personally ridden the Metro quite yet – just waiting for the temperature to die down a little, so the risk of actual death through heat exhaustion from walking home once reaching the “nearby” station has subsided somewhat – initial reports have been extremely positive, and the general appreciation of this fundamental shift in the city’s dynamic well and widely appreciated.
Well done Dubai (not often you hear that). No one can disagree that the inaugural journey (a surprisingly tasteful affair last week, one even Kanye West could not spoil) of those gleaming tubes was a momentous occasion – a truly seismic shift in the psychology of the city, with those that had been limited to forms of only road transportation and endless queues for smelly-taxis (back when Dubai was actually busy, and before deodorant) now provided the alternative of an efficient, automated (yep, computers control the entire system – impressive huh?), and relatively reasonably priced (more on that in a bit) mode of transportation that might eventually do for Dubai what the (now ageing in comparison) underground systems did for Hong Kong and Singapore.

Sorry for the delay…
The history behind the lack of a functioning train system across the Middle East, linking the Mediterranean across to the Indian Ocean, is an interesting historical lesson, and one with such deep political connotations and great expanses for conspiracy theorists that treading carefully around the subject is necessary to avoid sounding like a bitter member of the anti-colonial brigade. At the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the dying stages of the 1st World War, the Arabian states were in danger of totally breaking away from the increasing influence of the British and French – the discovery of oil had yet to fully lodge itself into every political scenario, but the victorious Western Allies did sense a need to maintain a hold on the potentially great powers of a united Middle Eastern people. The introduction of railways and an efficient industrialisation-linked mode of transport in Great Britain was the focus of a great number of economic (and hence military) developments and strengths from the early 1800s. The allies did not want this potential strength to develop unchecked amongst the Arabs. On exchange for handing dominance of certain swathes of the Middle East’s geography to selected and favoured tribes, a promise was exacted that a train system would never be built linking the Levant across to the borders of then Persia. It took almost 100yrs to break away from that long-standing contract, and along with Saudi now (finally) in the middle of constructing their trans-national railway system, the Arab states are finally catching up with an invention that revolutionised half the globe in the 1800s.

Mass pricing…
A quick look at Dubai Metro’s ticket prices and positioning of the newest form of public transport confirms it is unmistakably meant for the “workers”. Outside of those fortunate enough (used lightly) to drive around the now-less-congested yet still not totally constructed roads, there are entire armies of workers that are the life and blood of the ever-growing (albeit at a substantially declining pace) number of hotels and residences. It is this part of the population that will feel most liberated by the sheer availability of a hop-on-hop-off transportation system, capable of whisking them from home to work in relative high-comfort. Without the dependence on taxis and overcrowded buses to take them from location to location, the very psyche of the city will begin to alter as a proper sense of liberty sets in.

From what has been learnt so far, the average cost of a single journey is around $1.10c. This compares very favourably with other major city systems – extremely favourably to London which is almost 6x the cost, and in line with Singapore (only a few cents more expensive), but still not as great value as Hong Kong which is comparably 40% cheaper. Not wanting to take anything away from Dubai’s moment, with only 10 stations currently open and considering the still rather limited reach of the system, the costs at first appear quite attractive when isolated against other modes of transportation in the city - taxis are not good value for the “workers” despite appearing cheap for the luckier ones, buses are more affordable but subject to lengthy delays with numerous stops - but more sophisticated and advanced cities like Hong Kong bring back to earth those understanding Dubai still has some way to go.

It really was a case of the haves and have-nots on the roads of Dubai for many years, and although the metro will not eradicate the huge divide between the two camps sitting at opposing extremes, it will go a long way to empowering the less fortunate and provide a sense of ownership and belonging. It will socially flatten the stigma amongst those either unable or simply unwilling to drive. The effects should not be underestimated, as all the great cities of the world have very egalitarian transportation systems that liberate those without the same degree of wealth, or those simply not enamoured with cars (who could not love cars?) – fine, they might still stare longingly from windows as they swish across the city landscape and contemplate what it must be like to glide around in the Bentley cruising on the roads beneath, but the fact they are going to arrive at their destination far quicker and with less stress (not to mention having not spent $400,000) might bring a semblance of comfort. Ok Ok, the (unassailable) existence of a “Gold Class” on the Dubai Metro slightly spoils this lovely “equalising” effect, but hey – where do you expect the bankers to sit but on leather reclining seats when they finally decide to try it out?

Failing returns on investment?
An interesting angle on the opening of the Metro, with an apparent desire to push more and more Dubai-ains (or is that Dubai-ites?) out of their cars and onto the brand-spanking-new trains, a link may be proffered to recent anecdotal evidence surrounding the once-far-too-easy-to-be-taken-seriously driving test suddenly representing a challenge on par with surviving the Spanish Inquisition. Coincidental tales of driving students being failed for no real apparent reason are cause for concern – and no, we’re not talking about those “little incidents” that most profess were really not that “big-a-deal-as-only-the-chassis-was-damaged”, and they never “saw the car in my rear view mirror” as they completed a 3-point turn, in 12-points – 45minutes later. These stories have continued to emerge at a greater frequency on and around the time of the metro’s first choot-choot across the city. Now, it’s all well and good that the authorities would like to pretend they are extremely concerned with the environment and well-being of their population, but the more cynical out there would look closer to the worry of ever recovering the lion’s share of the $7bn investment sunk into the region’s most advanced public transportation system. Might a concerted effort to push more of Dubai’s residents onto the metro be at play?

The Metro system has started working and will primarily take the half-million or so working ex-pats, without access to cars, along to work with it. If only the passengers would stop pulling the red emergency cords causing unnecessary delays as they “mistake’ them for door opening buttons. You can take the prankster out of the bus, but it seems they’ll just jump on the metro.


Sources: Dubai Metro www.rta.ae, Hong Kong MTR www.mtr.com.hk , Singapore www.smrt.com.sg , London Tube www.tfl.gov.uk