Meet the family

The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has said the Dubai Metro will be a city icon on par with the Burj Al Arab. So who's the competition? Arabian Business has a ticket to ride.

So here it is, the world's longest automated metro system built in one go, and quite possibly put together in the shortest period of time, if compared to similar projects.

Will the RTA ever recoup the $7.6bn investment it has made in the Arabian Peninsula's first ever urban rail network? Looking at the experience of other cities, it is unlikely. The Dubai brand, on the other hand, should get a boost that is difficult to quantify in money terms.

After raising the budget by an estimated 80 percent, the Red and Green Lines will serve 47 stations on 7.7 km of railway tracks. Most of it will be over ground: 24 of the Red Line's stations will be of the elevated, beetle-shaped kind that has now become an integral part of the city's skyline. Six of the stops on the Green Line will be underground.

Union Square and Khalid Bin Al Waleed will be the two main transfer hubs, with the area above Union to be turned into a park after it is completed.

Sheikh Zayed Road, the multi-lane highway that once divided the city in two for anyone without a car, will be crossed by 19 air-conditioned footbridges that will include travelators, escalators and lifts.

Only five of the world's 50 largest cities do not have their own metro, and much like the cities themselves, no mass transit system seems to be quite like the other.

The old one

The London Underground, launched in 1863, is the oldest subway system in the world and the largest one in Western Europe. It has been known as the Tube since 1890, when the first deep-level electric railway line was opened.

Like in most other European countries, praising public transport is considered social suicide in the UK.

Thankfully, there are plenty of things to moan about.  The London Tube is one of the most expensive public transit systems in the world.

Due to its deep tunnels and poor ventilation, temperatures as high as 47 degrees Celsius have been recorded during the summer months, and travellers are advised to bring a bottle of water with them.

Overcrowding is another problem. A 2003 House of Commons report stated that commuters faced a "daily trauma" and had to endure "intolerable conditions".

Still, Londoners are voting with their feet: the number of passengers rose 5.7 percent last year to around 1.2bn per year, and Transport for London says a customer satisfaction survey gave it a 77 percent satisfaction score.

READERS' COMMENTS

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM