Dubai’s curious new public transport system.

If you were a regular traveler to Dubai then you knew that Blingtown had no public transport system to speak of. Emirates would drop you home if you flew Business Class, or you could take a cab- a reasonable fare and an annoying chat later, you’d be home. For everything else, you either rented a car or trusted a friend to do the driving.

Things have changed since 9/9/2009(!!!) and 9 stations of the swanky new Dubai Metro system are now go! Well, I got on a train today, curious as I was of the autopilot trains that are in service, I was not expecting surprises. And, guess what?

Gold Class Cabins!

Yes, Dubai must segregate it’s Zegna wearing folk from the minions. Each train has a ‘Gold Class’ cab, rides cost twice the standard ride. You hang with prettier people but there are no welcome drinks. Possibly the only metro system in the world that has a concierge/conductor on board; you may be asked to produce your ticket if you’re Indian looking or slightly brown in color.

Gender Segregation on feeder buses!

The first three rows on RTA’s feeder buses are meant for ladies and if you had trouble understanding this, Dubai Metro has a curious contraption on board to demarcate the ‘gender line’ of control.

Boys stay behind the boom, that’s the law.

No drivers, really!

The trains are really like most terminal transfer systems you find at airports, just faster. So there’s no driver and you get a great view. I hope they’re not running Windows!

And brilliant signage.

+2 for the neat progress visualization trick!

Footnote: If you’re in Dubai, I recommend you check out www.mydubaimetro.com, Flip Media’s insurgent shot at the RTA. +1, Yousef!