Dubai metro, tram packages and half-price offers announced

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced new pricing, packages and discounts for metro, tram and buses from 11 November, when the Dubai Tram opens.

[All about the Dubai Tram]

• Discounts: All students, seniors over the age of 60 and people on social welfare benefits will now get a 50 percent discount on public transport in Dubai – previously the discounts were not available to residents, only citizens.
• Packages: Users of the Dubai Metro, Dubai Tram and public buses will be able to get discounts of up to 47 percent with the Nol card weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual packages.
• Price increases: Prices are actually going up, however – a daily ticket has jumped from AED 14 to AED 20 for silver card-holders, and from AED 28 to AED 50 for gold. And monthly Nol package prices are also increasing – a multi-zone silver pass will cost AED 350, instead of the current AED 270.
• New zones: Subscription to the packages is now divided into three levels; single zone (1) for commuters on Dubai Metro, Dubai Tram and public buses within one zone, 2 to move between two zones, and a multi-zone option (3) to move around all zones of the emirate.

Silver Packages

Gold Packages

• Daily Silver subscription will cost AED 20 and will enable the user to travel all over the emirate.
• Students, seniors and social benefit receivers will get a 50 percent discount on all packages, except for the daily package.
• Subscription to the daily Gold package will cost AED 40.

Number of passengers and expansion plans

Dubai Metro

• A million passengers are expected to use the Dubai Metro on News Year’s Eve, compared to 750,000 last year.
• Some 138 million people used the Metro in 2013
• So far this year, 119 million passengers have used the service from January to September.
• To meet demand the RTA is planning to buy between 25 and 35 new trains by 2020, as well as extend the Red and Green lines.
• Part of the plan is to extend the red line to Al Maktoum Airport and the Expo 2020 site, and from Rashidiya to Mirdif City Centre.
• Proposals for the green line will see the track extend from Jadaf to International City and Academic City.

Dubai Tram

• Eight trams will be used to service 11 stations at launch, with three more trams coming and two further stations.
• The trams have a capacity of about 400 people
• The RTA estimates 200,000 people will use them each year.

By 2030, the RTA wants 30 per cent of people in the city to use public transport.”

[More on the tram]

How to buy a Nol package for Dubai Transport

The RTA says the process to buy a subscription is simple:

• Select the type of NOL card (Blue, Gold, Silver or Red Ticket)
• Subscribers to Personalised NOL cards  select their category (students, seniors, disabled, ordinary users) to get applicable discounts
• Once the type of card is selected, the user has to select the type of subscription (weekly, monthly, quarterly, annual)
• The customer then selects the travel zone (level 1, level 2, level 3)
• Once all details are completed and the subscription amount is paid, the operator will then process the subscription of the card
• The operator will activate the subscription within five days of purchase, otherwise the card will be activated automatically after five days
• The customer can then use the card when traveling on the Dubai Metro, Dubai Tram and public buses.