Buses, Dubai

Buses make up a large part of Dubai's public transport system, and will take you to places the metro (and new trams) can't reach, like Jumeirah beach. You will recognize the bus stops by their space age design - they are air conditioned metal boxes. Unfortunately, if the air conditioning isn't working, the interior of the metal box becomes a furnace of superheated air even on a mild winter's day. Now I know why some people were standing outside these things even when it was 30+ outside.

Using Public Transport in Dubai like the RTA Public Buses, RTA Water Taxis and RTA Dubai Metro Train Stations require the NOL Tickets or Cards.

The NOL Tickets and Cards are available at all Bust Stations and Metro Stations and at most Shopping Malls and Supermarkets and Convenience Stores in Dubai.

according to the RTA Website:

Nol Red Ticket

For tourists and visitors
Ideal for occasional or casual users of public transport.
No e-purse account available and has to be pre-paid with the correct journey type (based on the zones to be travelled).
Paper ticket which can be purchased for AED 2 and valid for 90 days.
Rechargeable for use up to a maximum of 10 journeys or 5 daily pass.correct journey type (based on the zones to be travelled).
The same ticket can be used for both metro and bus without any need of getting another new ticket.
A permit for using both metro and buses is available for 1 day (cost is 14 AED for the permit and 2 AED for the ticket.

Price 4 AED | Credit 2 AED

NOL Silver Card

For frequent travellers
Holds up to AED 500 worth of credit and is valid for 5 years.
Has an e-purse, which deducts the correct fare automatically.
Can be used immediately and topped up at any ticket office, online or ticket vending machine.

Price 20 AED | Credit 14 AED

Nol Gold Card

For those who want first class travel
Has an e-purse, which deducts the correct fare automatically.
Holds up to AED 500 worth of credit and is valid for 5 years.
Can be used immediately and topped up at any ticket office and Ticket Vending Machine.
Allows the privilege of using Gold Class cabins on the Dubai Metro.
When used on other modes of transport with no Gold Class Cabins, the user will be charged the standard fare.

Price 20 AED | Credit 14 AED

Nol Blue Card

A secure, personal card for frequent travellers
Personalised card with the user’s photo. discounts for students, senior citizens and people with disabilities.*
Holds up to AED 500 worth of credit and is valid for 5 years.
Register online for your nol Blue Card.
People with disabilities travel for free. and registering complaints.*
50% discount for students and senior citizens.required instructions.*
More features such as loyalty points program, auto top-up facility.*
Has an e-purse, which deducts the correct fare automatically.
Card requires a one-time payment of AED 70 and will be delivered within 10 days.
Secure online services for topping up the card, transaction history and registering complaints.
SMS notifications related to confirmation of services and/or required instructions.*

Price 70 AED | Credit 20 AED

RTA Buses is the only public bus transportation in Dubai and is owned by the Dubai Government. they have more than 600 bus stops in and around Dubai that have air conditioned waiting sheds. the bus routes are divided into express bus routes, feeder bus routes, Intercity Bus Route, Local Bus Route and CBD Bus Route and there are a variety of the size of public buses and all are air conditioned.

if you are a tourist, you can buy a red NOL cards for AED 20 (with a 14 AED value) at any convenience stores, malls, some supermarkets and shops and use them as payment to ride the bus and the metro. standard prices of a bus ride is 2 AED for a bus ride less then 90 minutes, up to AED 6.50 for bus rides les than 180 minutes, depending on the route. Unlike the dubai metro, you cannot pay cash for a trip at the Public Buses.

if you are not scrimping on travel costs, then just use taxis.

according to their website:

The Dubai Bus fleet consist of 1574 buses (by the end of the 1st Quarter 2013) operating on 22 Dubai Metro Feeder routes out of the 86 inner routes covering 85% of Dubai’s urban districts. Dubai Bus fleet is cutting over 5,759,116 kilometers (as of February 2013). The bus transport infrastructure includes 17 well-attended bus stations, over 2033 bus stops, 636 of it are air conditioned passenger shelters. All stops has point timetables and route maps.

Many buses go to the Gold Souk Bus Station which is close to the fish market and just across the road from the gold souk, perfume souk and spice souk. For example the number 4 which starts next to Rashidiya metro station passes by Emirates Station, GGICO Station and through Deira Town Centre before going to Gold Souk Station

We were able to go to a good view point for photographing the Burj Al Arab Hotel, Jumeriah Beach Park and mosque using the number 8A bus which ran between Ibn Battuta Metro Station and the Gold Souk Bus Station. The 88 and 8 also went to the hotel, beach and mosque. The 88 runs between Deira City Centre and Dubai Internet City (on metro line).
The number 47 goes from Rashidiya and Jumeriah Beach Park. The C10 runs from Hamriya Port via Al Karama metro station to Jumeriah Beach Park.

To travel we bought a silver NOL card. it cost 20 diarhams - 6 diarhams was for the card and there was 14 diarams of credit. It could be topped up at metro stations and some bus stations, bus stops. It was more flexible than the red NOL card as we could use it on the metro and on the buses. It could be used on some boat routes, too.
When you enter a bus, you have to place your card on a machine, you must place it there again just before getting off.

Buses had good points and bad points. Good - they are cheap; if you get a seat they are very comfortable; they are air-conditioned; many bus-stops are air-conditioned, too. They are useful to rest in even if you are not waiting for a bus as you can cool down from the searing heat there.
Bad - they are very slow partly because of too much traffic and partly because they go very round-about routes.

Every time we arrive in Dubai we arrive at some ungodly time of the morning. With several hours to kill in the airport in the middle of the night before we could go to our hotel we had a good look around terminal 3 and discovered this sign about free shuttle buses to Al Ain and Abu Dahbi. I do not know what you have to show to use them i.e. do you need a flight to Dubai ticket, do you need a hotel booking in Abu Dahbi or Al ain, or can anyone use them? Sorry, too tired in the middle of the night to find out, but did take a photo of the schedule, though.

A reasonably good bus service is available between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The bus departs from Abu Dhabi Municipality Bus Station to Al-Ghubaiba Bus Station in Bur Dubai, just near the Creek. The fare is Dh15. The frequency of the service is about every 40 mins. The journey takes 2 hours.

I've never tried taking the bus to travel around Dubai. The sights of long queues and buses packed with South Asian workers did not really appeal to me. This is a cheap mode of travelling but the service is extremely poor with complaints of waiting for more than an hour for a bus. This is especially the case on weekends when the number of buses on the road is reduce (which is weird since many people like to come out on Fridays!). My advice is, avoid using the bus service for travelling if you can or unless you've a very tight budget. Take the taxi, it's pricey but safe, comfortable and fast.

The public buses in Dubai are a convenient , fast and cheap way to going around the city.
Buses run on scheduled route, and cover almost the whole big city and its outward extentions off-the Sheikh Zayed Highway . Buses run to and from the airport as well.
Get a local bus network map from Al Gubeyba bus station in Bur Dubai district in Dubai, or simply download it from the internet website listed in here.

http://vgn.dm.gov.ae/DMEGOV/dm-mp-transportmap

It's easty to use and very safe.

The bus system is the cheapest way of travelling around Dubai. Just to try it out, I used them a few times. The only positive point is the quality of the busses, ie they are using air-conditioned Mercedes busses.

But:

- The stops are difficult to find and reach and sometimes there is no indication on the street that there is a bus stop here.
- The schedules mentioned on their website and/or on the bus stations are far from beeing accurate, since the busses are almost always late.
- The intervals between busses are too long which causes overcrowded busses especially during rush hours.
- The drivers are usually unfriendly and stressed. (I found one exception though, when the driver was very friendly)
- There are no bus lanes, so you are stuck in the traffic jam like everyone else.

The Dubai Transport Buses are pretty cheap. Most routes are well serviced and the city is well connected. The fare ranges from Dh. 1.5 to 2.5.

When in the city you can dial their toll free number : 8004848 for queries regarding bus routes, fares and schedules.

Taxis are much, much faster than buses and not too expensive. The starting (minimum) fare is Dhs. 3.50. They run by meter.

The best way to get to the city from the airport is by bus. The starting fare for taxis is Dh. 20, whereas an airport bus will get you pretty much anywhere for Dhs. 3. These Buses have most major hotels on their routes. The 402 terminates at Al Ghubaiba bus station covering most of Bur Dubai. The 401 terminates at Al Sabkha covering most of Deira.

All bus drivers speak English and are very helpful.

The local bus network is very good, linking most areas. Bus stops have a good map showing the various routes covered by the many bus numbers. And added bonus is that most stops are air-conditioned, with sliding doors.

One can get buses from the airport to the city. The financial districts further south are also covered, as is the beach area, and many of the big & popular shopping malls, eg ibn Battuta, etc.

Buses are air-conditioned too, and most have electronic card readers that require you to swipe your prepaid cards both as you aboard & alight, automatically charging you & deducting the appropriate fare. Unfortunately you cannot pay the driver in cash.

Inside, there are several buttons to press to indicate you want to get off at the next stop.

The forthcoming stops are announced verbally & also displayed on the electronic LCD screens.

you can take a bus from airportport teminal- 401 / 402 airport to burdubai and other to diera.confirm with the driver. from terminal 3 you can enter metro station.more hotels cheaper here in burdubai.feel free to contact for further info- [email protected]
http://www.dubaitraveldesk.com/

Our trip to Dubai from Sharjah was orginized by "Al Khaldiah Tourism" group of companies.
It costs $35 (December, 2008).
Every Monday, wednesday and Saturday.
Sharjah Grand Hotel where we lived offered Shattle service to Dubai City Center daily free of charge.
Departure from hotel to Dubai:
9.30, 12.00, 16.00, 19.30.
City Centter:
10.00, 12.30, 16.30, 20.00.
Dubai Deira:
10.10, 12.40, 16.40, 20.10.

You can watch my 3 min 02 sec HD Video Dubai Along by bus part 2 out of my Youtube channel with Quadro - Turkish.

There are both city buses and private airport buses from the Dubai airport to Dubai. The airport buses are luxury buses with AC and baggage holds. Both city buses and airport buses leave from Terminals 1 and 2, and both have multiple drop-off points throughout the Dubai city center. The cost of a city bus is 3dhs.

Dubai Airport Buses

The Dubai airport buses operate 24 hours a day. They arrive and depart from the Dubai International Airport Terminal 1 (near the carpark) in 30 minutes intervals.

Two Dubai airport bus routes are currently in place: 401 and 402.

Rate is 3 AED per journey.

Dubai Airport Bus 401 transports passengers from the airport in Dubai to the Deira section of Dubai. Route: Dubai Airport- DNATA Airline Centre - Al Maktoum Road - Deira Taxi Station - Al Sabkha Bus Station

Dubai Airport Bus 402 transports passengers from the airport to the Dubai city area which is located on the other side of the Dubai Creek. Route 402: Dubai Airport - Deira City Centre - Al Karama - Golden Sands - Al Mankhool - Al Ghubaiba Bus Station