Dear readers,
A very important question has tickled my curiously from reading the last blog post on this blog, so I will as you a quick question:
Are you more happy with RTA's Metro today OR with RTA's Salik so far?
When thinking about the RTA's Metro, please consider the early teething problems as well as any potential in the future for it to be a success of sorts or any other factors you think are relevant :)
A simple "Metro" or "Salik" response would be great, but I doubt I'll get that! Everyone can vote, you don't need to have a car or pay your Salik or have tried the metro at all!
Thanks.
Posts
11 comments:
I think that in reality Salik was just damage control--there was nothing the RTA or anyone could have done in such an instant manner as a toll gate to try and spread the 'damage' (i.e. traffic).
I think the early teething problems with the metro were foreseen and they couldn't have avoided it. It's like opening a new mall here, it would be jam-packed. I assume that's why they've done a limited opening (in terms of not selling the cheapest tickets yet), it's just crowd control.
Metro, though I have not ridden it yet, it is a more though out solution to a major issue.
BuJ,
Salik and Metro are the two sides of the same coin. There is nothing to chose from. Unless you have road pricing and parking charges in place and generally make life for motorists hell, most people won't use public transport - because we are all lazy buggers who want to park in front of the shop. I bet you what you'll see soon is Salik and parking charges going up, maybe a congestion charge thrown in for good measure, in order to "motivate" people to use public transport.
equally happy with both actually. (simple answer)
it's great to be able to reach the airport from MOE in seventeen to twenty minutes.
similarly, metro will be equally great to use on weekends (for the sole purpose of mall-hopping).
do i use salik / will i use metro on a daily basis?
no.
am i happy they are in place?
yes.
I haven't tried the metro yet, but the plan in general is for the best. I've been to New York and Tokyo and metro really helps you get around, taxi fares around double there. I just can't wait for the road works to finish. I think RTA is doing a good job and I doubt anyone could have done it better. As for salik, it helped when al Garhoad was under maintenance, I don't use it much nowadays, use business bay most of the time. I don't mind using the metro if it were closere to where I live, its like 40 minutes walking from home to closest station and another 40 from the station closest to work. As for malls, I might use it, but I see little point to use a car to get to the station where I can drive directly to the mall.
thanks guys for your opinions :)
Sam, I couldn't have said what you said better!
Nick, WELCOME BACK !!! The blogosphere was not the same without you. Great to have you. Btw, I agree with you to an extent, but I think:
1- Salik should have started AFTER the metro, but we know life is unfair.
2- Salik should work on a zone system (2-D area) and not a node system (1-D toll gates) to avoid local congestion spots around the gates.
Hemlock :) thanks!
Salik should have been on the exits of the city charging people living outside the city and not charging people who live in the city.
It should have been introduced after the Metro had launched.
I feel car pooling is a better option and should be promoted more without having a stupid registration thing with stupid rules.
Making sure rules are not bent for the rich and connected. Force people into community service even if they are a CEO of a company if they break too many rules i.e a month of hard labour.
Also make the license test more challenging and not just plain costly where again the rich and connected can pay so and so amount and get a license in a month even if they cant drive even if their life depended on it.
Most traffic jams are created by law breakers or plain useless drivers and unfortunately we get a lot of people who are a combination of both.
I'm just ranting now..
I don't like RTA though they are doing a brilliant job, just wish they could iron out some stupid ideas out of their heads...
Bu Jassem,
Interesting topic… thanks for posting.
As I said in one of the numerous posts I did about the Metro, the deployment of feeder buses is probably as important as the metro itself. The RTA needs to ditch the proposed plan and come up with more extensive bus coverage. The nearest bus route to where I live is 15-20 minutes walk away. Where I work it is even further. It’s not difficult to walk in a pleasant climate, but it’s certainly difficult in the summer days. And Dubai lacks lots of shaded walkways. In such circumstances I will not take the Metro unless I could get as close to the station as possible (i.e. mall hopping as Hemlock said, and even then you need to be wary of your parking limit)
They should put Salik in all roads from and to Sharjah and charge 20 Dirhams for every pass, problem solved !
RTA Salik and RTA Metro are the two sides of the same coin. Both are different transportation methods but closely related features of one idea which is reduce traffic ... Hats off for RTA's splendid efforts!
Like a previous poster alluded to, the problem here is not whether or not the metro is a good idea....the problem is, how does one get to the metro?
I live in the springs....as yet I have no idea where to catch a bus, what the schedule is, and I'm sure if there is a bus stop for the springs, I'd have to drive to it. You can not have a metro system, before first developing an adequate, efficient bus route system.
Don't get me started on Salik. Nothing more than a money grab.
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