Dubai’s public transport is modern, clean and cheap, and it covers rather less of the city than you would expect. Plan on a combination of metro and taxi.
The Metro
Two lines, fully driverless, opened in 2009.
Red Line runs the length of Sheikh Zayed Road from the airport through Deira, Downtown, the Marina and out to Expo City. This is the one visitors use.
Green Line loops through the old city — Deira, the Creek, Bur Dubai — and serves Al Ras for the souks, Al Fahidi and Al Ghubaiba.
They interchange at Union and BurJuman.
A Blue Line is under construction and not yet open.
Trains run frequently. The first carriage is Gold Class (a higher fare) and the next is Women and Children only — enforced, with fines, and worth noticing before you board.
Stations are air-conditioned, as are the bridges and walkways to them, which matters more here than anywhere.
The Nol card
One card for metro, tram, buses and water buses. Buy a Silver Nol at any station, load it with credit, tap in and tap out. Fares are zonal and cheap.
There is also a Red ticket for occasional journeys and day passes. For a few days’ visiting, Silver with credit is simplest.
You must tap out as well as in. Failing to costs you the maximum fare.
Taxis
Plentiful, metered, government-regulated and cheap by European standards — often the sensible option, particularly in summer. Cream-coloured with coloured roofs; the pink-roofed ones have women drivers and are for women and families.
Careem and Uber both operate. Careem is the local one and is generally cheaper.
Hala taxis, booked through Careem, are ordinary taxis at metered rates.
The Tram
One line along the Marina and JBR, connecting to the Red Line at DMCC and Jumeirah Lakes Towers, and to the Palm Monorail at Palm Jumeirah. On the Nol card. Useful if you are staying in the Marina, otherwise not.
The Palm Monorail is not on Nol and needs its own ticket.
Abras
The wooden boats across the Creek. One dirham, paid in cash to the boatman. Stations at Bur Dubai, Dubai Old Souk, Al Sabkha and Al Seef. There are also Nol-payable water buses and water taxis at many times the price.
Buses
Extensive, air-conditioned, on the Nol card, with air-conditioned bus shelters — a Dubai peculiarity that makes sense the first time you use one in June. Useful for Abu Dhabi (E100/E101) and Hatta (E16).
Walking
Here is the thing: Dubai is not built for it. Blocks are enormous, roads are eight lanes wide, pedestrian crossings are far apart, and for six months of the year the temperature makes any distance over a few hundred metres genuinely unwise.
The exceptions are the old city — Deira, Bur Dubai, Al Fahidi — which are dense and walkable, and the developed promenades: the Marina Walk, JBR, Al Seef, the Downtown boardwalk.
Jaywalking is illegal and fined.
Driving
Hire cars are cheap and fuel is cheaper. Roads are excellent and the driving is fast and assertive. Speed cameras are everywhere and fines are automatic and passed to the rental company with an administration charge. Salik toll gates are automatic too.
For most visitors, metro plus taxi works out cheaper and less stressful.
Accessibility
Better than most cities of its age, because almost everything is new. Every metro station has lifts and tactile paving, buses are low-floor with ramps, and the malls and attractions are built to modern standards throughout.
The obstacles are outdoors: distances, heat, and the fact that pedestrian crossings on the major roads are often footbridges with lifts that are not always working. Taxis are the practical answer, and there are accessible taxis bookable through the RTA.
Heat as a transport problem
This deserves stating plainly, because it is the thing visitors underestimate. From May to September, a walk of more than a few hundred metres outdoors in the middle of the day is not merely uncomfortable — it is a genuine health risk, particularly with children.
Plan routes station-to-station and door-to-door. Dubai’s designers assumed air conditioning at every point, and the city works well if you use it as intended and badly if you do not.
Apps worth having
Careem and Uber for cars. S’hail, the RTA’s journey planner, for metro and bus times and Nol balance. Google Maps works well for driving and poorly for walking, because it will happily route you along an eight-lane road with no pavement.