Dubai: Did you use your car today to get to work? If not, you joined the 1,500 Dubai Municipality staff that were asked to leave their cars at home and make their way to the office using public transport.
Dubai Municipality is celebrating Car-free Day amid hopes that the initiative will encourage other institutions, governments and businesses to do the same.
Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director General of Dubai Municipality took the lead by travelling himself in metro. He took the metro train from Rashidiya Station and got down at the Union Square station, adjacent to the Municipality. His colleagues in all grades and positions also used different means of public transport to reach the office on the Car Free Day.
Lootah said February 17 would mark the beginning of Car-free Day in the emirate from 2010 — a day that will be observed in the coming years.
This action aims to relieve the atmosphere of some of the toxic gases emitted every day by more than one million cars on Dubai's roads.
Meanwhile, Gulf News staffers left their cars at home for the day to see how easy it was to take other modes of transport to work. Read about what they have to say about the experience.
Fun commute
By Guillermo Munro, Senior Infographic Artist
As an environmental artist I love public transportation and I also love my folding bike and my longboard. In Chicago I took the L (the Elevated train) and took that time to read the newspaper or a book or just enjoy seeing the city from above.
I have been taking the metro from Mall of the Emirates and sometimes I car-pool in a taxi with my flat-mate. So the Idea of coming in to work with the board and metro really sounded good.
My station (Sharaf DG) is not open and the Metro station close to work (Business Bay) is not open either so what I normally do when taking the metro is walk to Mall of the Emirates and get off in the Dubai Mall station and then hop on the F-16 (yes like the fighter plane) bus.
This time I came out and took the backstreets of Al Barsha 1 and using the bike path that leads to the Mall of the Emirates station was truly enjoyable. Some people were looking at my longboard and were somewhat puzzled.
I continued to take some video of my trip enjoying seeing Burj Al Arab, and Safa Park, it looks enormous! I got off at Dubai Mall station and walked across the bridge but I never thought of taking the F-16 bus.
Of course the time to do this will be limited as days becomes hotter, but hey I have my folding bike and in summer the stations that are closer will be open so my exposure to the death rays of the sun will be limited.
Altered plans
By Emmanuelle Landais, Staff Reporter
Having never caught the bus, I logged on to the RTA’s website the night before to plan my journey and double-check where all the bus stops are. The website found several options to reach my destination, all of which would take between 45 and 90 minutes, involving either two or three buses and some walking.
I left Knowledge Village at 10am and headed for the stop highlighted on the virtual map on Al Sufouh road. I immediately had to turn back and look for another as roadworks made the bus stop inaccessible to pedestrians. Not a great start. I had picked the option for bus 8 to take me from Al Sufouh Road, down Jumeirah Beach Road to Palm Strip Mall.
From there I was to take bus 47 to Satwa roundabout, and take a connecting bus, 98E, towards Al Quoz Industrial Area 3, and hop off opposite the Gulf News office near Shaikh Zayed Road.
I enjoyed catching the bus, but ended up customising my own journey. I missed the first bus, but they just kept coming at 5 minute intervals. The bus was clean and fairly empty so I sat.
It seemed troublesome to take three buses and go beyond my destination (Satwa) only to loop back . I got off at Jumeirah Beach Park and from there walked 40 minutes the rest of the way. The weather was good but I couldn’t do this in the summer.
Liberating walk
By Adam Flinter, Hub Editor
It was still dark when my journey to work began. Living 5km from the office, my usual 10-minute drive was replaced by a 75-minute hike.
As I set off, my walk was accompanied by a musical soundtrack, not only from MP3s, but also the sound of a million taxis honking their horns at me and looking bemused when I waved them on.
But you know what? Far from being a grind, it was a liberating experience.
The breeze was refreshing, I watched the sun rise, I saw actual people, I became acquainted with my iPod again and the exercise undoubtedly did me good. The trade off? Waking far too early to begin my walk at 6:15am.
Would I do it every day? No. Behind idealism lies reality. If I am due at work by 7am, I’m not rising a minute earlier than I need to, let alone an hour.
After a hard day, I certainly don’t want another 75 minutes of pavement pounding. Not to mention it is also lunacy do this in the summer.
But there is a happy ending. The experience was positive enough for me to decide to stop using my car at least one day a week. Time will tell how long that lasts.
Cycling to work
By Alice Johnson, Deputy UAE Editor
When I told my friends I would be cycling to work, they said I was crazy — not because it’s more than 15km away and a lot of effort, but because the roads are too dangerous. I decided to test the theory, by taking the same route on my bicycle as I do in my car.
Setting off was fine — the roads around Tecom and The Greens are relatively quiet when compared to the six-lane monster that is Shaikh Zayed Road (SZR). I didn’t hit too many problems until the end of Al Barsha and Al Quoz — how should I cross SZR?
I spotted a pedestrian bridge attached to a Metro station at the Gold and Diamond Park, but unfortunately it was not open yet. So, I continued cycling until I got to the end of the line at Manara Street. This is where it started getting a bit hairy.
I had no other choice but to cross the motorway using the interchange. However, the cars speeding past me didn’t fill me with much confidence (have a look at my video to see it for yourself).
I decided to walk over the interchange and head down the relatively quiet Al Wasl Road. Twice I was nearly knocked off my bike by a taxi and a truck driver. I was wearing a high-vis fluorescent yellow jacket, so there’s no way they couldn’t have seen me.
However, I made it to the office without injury this time; thankfully. Would I do it again? Not until there are cycle lanes.
Long haul
By Samreen Hayat, Web Sub Editor
My car-free journey can best be described as a transportation trifecta, seeing as I found myself driving, riding the Metro and walking.
From Sharjah the only feasible way to get to work car-free, ironically, involved driving to the closest Metro station, using the park-and-ride facilities and heading out to my destination. In theory, this sounds reasonable, but in practice, not so much.
Leg 1: I left at 7:45am (30 minutes earlier than usual) and set out towards Rashidiya Station, hoping to catch a ride to Burj Khalifa Station. However, navigating through Sharjah traffic is no easy feat; it took me a cool hour and 10 minutes.
Leg 2: Compared to the battle on the roads I faced earlier, the Metro ride was a breeze. I took the 9:10am train and six stops and 25 minutes later found myself comfortably at Burj Khalifa. Granted, it would’ve been quicker to drive, but at least I enjoyed the view on the way.
Leg 3: I’d hoped to catch a feeder bus but seeing as I was already 40 minutes late with no bus in sight, I decided to walk to the Gulf News office, which lasted all of 25 minutes.
I finally traipsed in to work just after 10am, having been en route for 2 hours and 25 minutes. This, compared to the 50 minutes it usually takes is reason enough to never attempt my own version of Survivor again.
