Dubai's new metro system is the first phase of the world's longest fully automated rail system.

A Usable Asset or Costly Burden?

The city of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, is known for pushing the limits of design and technology.  Home to the world’s tallest skyscraper, first luxury underwater hotel, and largest mall, the city recently added the world’s longest driverless metro system to its list of impressive attractions.  Historically, a strong economy drew foreigners and investors to be a part of Dubai’s rapid growth.  Traffic congestion and insufficient transit services prompted city officials to begin designing and developing a state-of-the-art metro system in 1997, to improve mobility and provide an alternative to driving. After four years of construction, Dubai’s metro opened in September 2009.

Dubai’s metro is impressive.  The Red Line is 32.5 miles long (the CTA Red Line is 21 miles long) and is estimated to carry 32,000 passengers per hour.  Trains arrive every 90 seconds and travel an average of 67 miles per hour. While the costly new service will reduce some of the city’s congestion problems, Dubai is not immune to the world’s economic situation. The city known as the economic superpower of the Middle East has seen real estate prices crash, and hundreds of major construction projects put on hold or canceled altogether.  A city built on its reputation in real estate, finance and tourism, today’s Dubai is a much different story from when the metro system was conceived. While 29 metro stations and two lines were scheduled to open this year, only one line and 10 stations were ready for the inaugural event. The total system cost $7.5 billion – 75 percent more than originally estimated.

Some people have criticized the metro for being more of a novelty attraction than a means of transport for commuters.  Rather than connecting people with job centers or to housing complexes, Dubai’s metro provides service to the largest shopping center and other tourist attractions. Fuel prices are low and car ownership is high.  Dubai’s completed metro system still has to prove it can attract a consistent level of commuters and compete with the personal vehicle.

Back at home, we can learn from the lessons of Dubai’s metro.  By evaluating the way limited dollars are being spent, we can maximize the benefits of our transportation investments.  When we connect people to destinations and provide reliable and predictable services, cities can gain the many benefits of transit, including cleaner air, shorter commutes, less congestion, and more efficient land use practices. In Illinois, HB4590, the Transportation Investment Accountability Act, encourages a system of evaluation for all new transportation projects in the state to achieve these benefits and more.

 

Photo courtesy of Mark McCarthy

For Additional Information:

• Dubai Metro – Official website

• Dubai Metro Most Advanced Rail Systems – Railway Technology

NEWS

Local News

CTA to allow credit cards at its lots – Chicago Sun-Times “Customers at most CTA park-and-ride lots will be able to use credit cards — and not just cash — to pay for parking starting next spring.”

CREATE partners cap off significant project in Chicago – Progressive Railroading “In September, CREATE partners completed the program’s largest project to date: the Melrose Connection, or CREATE Project B3.”

Metra wants to raise one-way, weekend fares – Chicago Tribune “Under Metra's proposal, the cost of a one-way ticket would increase by 6 percent, or an average of 30 cents a ride. The agency also would boost weekend passes to $7 from $5.”

Gov. Quinn: Limit seniors’ free rides – Chicago Sun-Times “Reversing a position he took earlier in the week, Gov. Quinn said Friday he favors a plan that would limit free rides for seniors on public transit to low-income seniors.”

West Loop commuter market adds 16 vendors – Crains “The Chicago French Market is part of the MetraMarket concept, a 100,000-square-foot development bounded by Lake, Canal, Washington and Clinton streets.”

IDOT: 10th Street option would delay high-speed rail six years – Illinois Times “IDOT is calling on the City of Springfield and Sangamon County to complete an environmental study on the 10th Street option, and the application indicates such a study would not be completed for several years.”

Chicago fares could soon be among nation's highest – Chicago Tribune “Recession, years of neglect and the recent loss of the Olympics culminated Monday in Chicago recommending dramatic fare increases that would see commuters who rely on the nation's second largest transit system paying more than almost anywhere else in the U.S.”

Home sales better near Metra stations – Chicago Sun-Times “During 2009, Chicago suburbs served by Metra commuter trains saw the average price of a home decline less sharply than other areas of the seven-county suburban Chicago real estate market.”

World News

High-Speed Rail Keeps Train Makers on Track – Wall Street Journal “Global spending on trains, tracks and equipment is expected to reach €122 billion ($182 billion) this year, flat with last year, but up 18% from 2004, according to Unife, an international trade association.”

Business Travelers Take to Their Bikes – New York Times “Based on the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data released last month, there was a 43 percent increase nationally from 2000 to 2008 in people who bike to work regularly.”

Santa Monica to experiment with parking psychology – Los Angeles Times “Embracing a bold experiment to alter human behavior, Santa Monica is poised to raise parking rates on the city's most coveted downtown spots to discourage some motorists from using them.”

Buses Get Their Own 'Clunkers' Program – National Journal “While Clunkers has drawn the headlines, the administration has quietly sent millions more to state and local governments under a different program with similar goals: replacing old, diesel-powered buses with ones using cleaner technology.”

White House on board to fix Detroit's bus mess – Detroit Free Press “Federal officials are coming soon to figure out what can be done to help Detroit's struggling bus system, the Obama administration's top transportation official said Tuesday.”

Without Cars, a Different Sort of 42nd St. – New York Times “With parts of Times Square converted into a pedestrian mall, at least temporarily, some people say they believe the city should take an even more radical step: close 42nd Street to car traffic and build a light rail system to run the width of Manhattan.”

Off the Interstate: Turning 'Blue Highways' Green – Time “But off-the-beaten-path America could be revived by transforming little-used roadways into ‘green highways’ that cater specifically to electric-vehicle drivers and other slow-moving, eco-minded tourists traveling by bicycle or on foot.”

 

Resources

• Privatization and the Public Interest: The Need for Transparency and Accountability in Chicago’s Public Asset Lease Deals – Illinois PIRG

• The 2009 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard – American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy

• Funding Options for Freight Transportation Projects – TRB

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Contact Information
For comments, suggestions or submissions, please contact Emily Tapia Lopez, Associate, at etapia@metroplanning.org or 312-863-6047.