Different departure for keen air travellers

DUBAI // On the Metro's first day of public operation, a few brave souls were confident enough in the new service to incorporate it into their international travel plans. At the station in Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport, there were a scattering of travellers making their way home by train. Others were intending to use the Metro for part of their journey and complete their trip by bus or taxi.

There were also a few people who - perhaps simply curious to try the new system - had taken the train to the airport to meet arriving friends or relatives. "I have just one bag so there is no problem in travelling at all," said Selvan Davis, a pastor at the Holy Trinity Church in Dubai who was one of the first to use the train from the airport station yesterday. Mr Davis, who hails from India, said the service was comparable to any other in the world. "I have travelled on the Metro in Malaysia and I can tell you this is as good as any other city."

Mr Davis, 53, was returning from a trip to Oman. He travelled by train to Rashidiya station and then planned to take a taxi to Mirdiff where he lives. "The minimum cost for a taxi from the airport starts at Dh20," Mr Davis noted as he was travelling on the train. "A train to Rashidiya and a taxi to Mirdiff would still work out much cheaper for me." Fares on the Metro start at Dh2. Roman Meister, 38, from Switzerland, was killing time on the Metro before his flight home, having arrived at the airport by taxi.

"I bought the Nol card as I often visit Dubai and I plan to purchase a home here. I wanted to use the train before I left, so I will take a trip on it and then head for departure." He felt that the Dubai Metro was superior to those of Switzerland. "We recently launched a Metro in one of the cities back home," he said. "Dubai is of course a much bigger city and this is a much more impressive service."

He said he was confident the service would slowly pick up. For each passenger using the Metro, however, there were many more using cars, taxis and buses. Heavy baggage, lack of stations near home, confusion caused by a lack of signs and even a shortage of small change for tickets were given as reasons for not using the trains. Abuzel Mohamed, 30, a businessman returning from Lebanon said: "I did not see any signs inside the airport telling me about the new Metro service. I saw it only once I got out and that, too, because I knew that it launched yesterday.

"This would be confusing for tourists and I doubt they would use it." Larry Rivero, a music and stage show promoter from Cuba, was sceptical about whether many air passengers would use the Metro, as most people arriving in Dubai were tourists. "Maybe people who know Dubai and have less baggage will use it," he said. "But tourists will be confused and just take a taxi." Mr Rivero, a resident of Dubai, came to the station to see and learn about the Metro so that he could use it later. "I thought I would see a lot of people here," he said. "But there is no one."

He had spent time looking into the system and concluded that the bus would be better for him. "I live here and I'm still thinking of using the bus rather than the train. This is good for long-distance journeys, but for short distances you end up paying more than what you pay by bus." However, others believed that the airport station would be the most popular on the Metro. "Hundreds of staff work at this airport, and if they use this service, it is already a success," said Govind Jha, an Indian national who works at the transport section. He and a group of his colleagues were getting their first taste of the Metro with a trip to Jebel Ali.

pmenon@thenational.ae