01 July, 2007

Confessions of a Salik Fan because it Suits Me.

8:15 am, in the morning, still in bed trying to stretch the weekend to a few more minutes a few more seconds, until I am awaken from my half asleep and half awake state, "Come on honey, today is your first SALIK day", says hubby who has a reason to be snide because he rides against the traffic everyday from Burdubai to Diera. Sighing, I drag myself out of the bed lazily and finally I am awake after a quick shower. I put on the least fussy clothes, hair and makeup, a glass of milk and I am ready to go.
8:45 am, drive out the Bur Dubai Golden Sands, into the mainstream traffic where the construction of Dubai underground is going on. Traffic seems similar to any other day though I am curious to know what happens after I cross the Trade Centre to which I get after two red lights.
8:55 am, cross the under pass and am now on the Sheikh Zayed road. I notice that the traffic which on most days was very slow here is moving fast. I move my car to the left lane and “step on it”. I feel a strange sense of relief and my car is off to a good start. I am hoping that I don't get delayed near the exit 47 (the exit to avoid Salik on SZR). I pass the exit with little or no difference in my speed. On the other hand I see cars queuing up to the next exit before the media city.
9:00 am, successfully pass under the toll gate although I am wondering that since I pasted my tag on the left instead of the centre of the windshield as per instructions, would it make a difference and whether I would be fined for not pasting it in the centre. You might ask me why I didn't just paste it in the centre. Well, I took a call on better aesthetics. I know it still is not something that I would like to paste on my car especially because it's orange but I thought it would still do some justice to my car by placing it on the side rather than the centre and making it less obvious.
9:05 am, slide smoothly into the media city and feel that it's not so bad to live in Bur Dubai after all.
(my husband on the other hand says that it took him 2 hours to get to his office in Deira from Burdubai).

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wonderful at least to some ppl it has brought relief. Hope they do not increase your house rent, now that your area derives direct benefit from Salik.
Cheers!

naamer said...

Thank you I was afraid I would be politically incorrect for liking salik. having said that I do feel that more people can take the toll by car pool. Right now a lot of traffic could be reduced by sharing.

Anonymous said...

If they had allowed car pooling there would be no need of any Salik. Car pooling it self would have reduced the traffic congestion, that too with no expense. Plus the additional benefit of reducing pollution. But then the "experts" do not like simple solutions! They will be out of jobs!

Anonymous said...

Hahahahaha. Are you kidding? You thought the tag looked better on the left of the windscreen so you ignored the instructions? Look forward to a fine and replacing the sticker after first deactivating at a cost of 50dhs, then buying another one to replace it. Some people are just so dumb! Michael.

naamer said...

let's see who is dumb, I figured that the toll gate will be able to detect it from the side also. Another thing I would like to know is why people love to bash other people on the blogs. Where are your manners. You could have just said that I think you might be fined instaed of calling me dumb. I feel sorry for your ignorance in the intelligence of the system.

John B. Chilton said...

Glad to hear that hear that Salik has some fans.

As far as carpooling goes, people respond to incentives. They're not induced to car pool unless there is a charge per car. If you remind about the ambiguity over whether carpooling is even legal, my response is: if it's not legal the toll will increase the whinging for carpooling. And the authorities do listen to whinging.

Anonymous said...

JBC
"As far as carpooling goes, people respond to incentives. They're not induced to car pool unless there is a charge per car."

Mr. "Know it all" you are certainly not in this neck of the woods. Just cost of sharing gas expense is incentive enough apart from the pleasure of being driven to work. If incentive are to be offered then reduce the registration charges or award carpooling points which can be redeemed at gas stations for the car being shared, thats real incentive. This also reduce the pollution. (BTW are u with the PR?)

naamer said...

Glad to disappoint you anonymous, I have successfully passed under the salik toll with the tag on the left. "Some people are just so dumb! Michael".

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