10 December, 2007

Commuting Issues

With the escalation of traffic at this time of the year, I am wondering what a properly conducted survey about average commuting time for Dubai residents would reveal.

Here's a survey I've found online for commuting times in the US (job category/minutes):
An article from a different resource reveals:
Marylanders spent an average 30.8 minutes getting to work, the survey found.
Only New Yorkers took more time in 2005, with a mean commute of 31.2 minutes.

If a survey based on job category is ever conducted in Dubai, it'd show a horrendous disparity. The poor construction laborer spends hours everyday traveling from his camp in Muhaisna to a construction site in the Marina (for instance). While a general manager may only need 10 minutes to get to his workplace.
My own commuting time hovers around 35 mintues. That is 25-30 minutes in the morning, and 40-45 minutes in the way back.
What about you guys?

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

45 minutes in the morning, and 1.5 to 2 hours in the afternoon (Bur Dubai <-> JAFZ).

Keef said...

Hahaha. Work from home: 3 seconds!

DXBluey said...

Really very interesting post. I wish this stat was avail. I also wish 99% of the market stats that are avail in other territories were avil here... so annoying the insular nature of business....

Anyways -

Morning about 20 mins
Evening - 30 mins good / 50 mins bad

And Keefie - from your home to Dubai would take a bit longer than 3 seconds these days, Si?

rosh said...

DJ, mean commute of 31.2 minutes seem fudged. It's not 30 minutes, unless you are Donald Trump flying in your chopper from scraper to scraper. I live 4 kms from work, and it takes me about an hour.

That said - traffic to work in DXB (from AJ/SHJ) is torture (and a 1/2). It's not just more highways and public transport needed, but far better driving culture, which I think, is half the cause of current chaos.

Dubai Jazz said...

Hatem, 2 hours is a bit longer than what I thought it would take from JAFZ to Bur Dubai in the evening, have you tried JBR? May God bless you!

Keefieboy, it's nice to work from home yeah?
So 3 seconds is all the time you need to switch to the work mode, that's pretty fast!

DXBluey, thanks. I wonder if the Stats Bureau (or whatever it is called here) does have any information about this. I believe they should.

Rush, I was suspicious of those numbers myself. My cousin who still works in New York and lives in New Jersey told me 10 years ago that it usually took him one and a half hour to get to work.
I think the stats take into consideration those who work from home and the other less-commuting categories like domestic workers and such.

Brn said...

This is why I could never live in Dubai. It takes 10 minutes in both the morning and the evening to go the 8 kms from the house to work here in Al Ain.

Anonymous said...

Now: 10mins, in about six months time: 20 secs.

nick said...

40 minute drive to media city in the morning , and a 1.5 hour drive back to sharjah at 4pm.

hut said...

8 min's. in the morning, 15 minutes in the evenings. Jumeira to Al Quoz.
I am more than happy to pay a lot more rent for this luxury.

Btw. the labourers at least have a chauffeur whilst your proverbial manager has to drive himself...

Jomster said...

Woo-ho
i love al ain
17 mins from where i live (mezyad) to where i work (jimi)
but that'll all change in a couple of years if like they announced at the real estate expo in rotana yesterday all those giant mega projects happen.

Noor Al Ain (aldar)
Ain Al Emarat (al qudra)
1500 new homes near the old cement factory. (al ain municipality)
AND high rises! (sorouh et al)

NOOOOOOOOO!

Jomster

Lirun said...

whats public transport like?

John B. Chilton said...

My commute is within Sharjah.

2 minutes if I drive. 7 if I walk.

Better on those days when I work from home.

i*maginate said...

Brn, I'm sure your already miniscule commute time would be halved if it weren't for all those roundabouts ;-)

rosh said...

"My commute is within Sharjah.
2 minutes if I drive. 7 if I walk."

John that hurts, so bad :) Wanna switch?

Brn said...

Usually that would be true, i*maginate, but it is actually the fact that I encounter three of the few stop lights in town on my route and almost always get stopped at two of them.

Anonymous said...

I go to SHJ in the morning and evening back to DXB, since its against the traffic, how long it takes me depends on how fast i drive. But usually i cover 50km in abt 25-35mins.

B.D. said...

I find the graphic in the post weird. They list all of 7 different job categories, two of which read Administrative Assistant, Administrative Office Manager,

What about the 100 million other jobs people have? That's enough to make me discount the whole survey.

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