Public Transportation

Those of you who know me know I love public transportation. So when I went to Dubai, I decided to try the public transportation, rather than a taxi, to the hotel. Now this was a great choice in my mind for several reasons:

(1) I had already figured out which two buses I had to take, and I would end up at my exact destination.
(2) It was about $30 cheaper than a taxi.
(3) It would give me experience on public transportation in Dubai!!!

So you can imagine my enthusiasm when I step out of the airport terminal, cross the street, and see the exact bus I needed right there, ready to go! I pay my 5 Dirhams (<$2) and take a seat at the very front. Now here's where it gets intersting...I noticed first that women were only sitting in the seats at the front. Second that at the first stop, the bus driver started talking loudly at the people trying to get on and making wild gesticulations shooing them away. They get off the bus and we continue on. There are seats open at the front of the bus, but no more men were allowed on. At the next stop, women get on and all the seats at the front are full. Then, when another lady tried to get on at another stop, he wouldn't let her. It was then that I realized there were women only seats (12 of them), and once they were full, no more women were allowed on, not even to stand. The men could sit in all the seats in the back, and also could stand in the aisle. But when their section was full, no more men were allowed on!! Incredible. No complaints, they just got off the bus and waited for another one. Now, compare that with SEPTA here. Just the other morning I got on the 48 Bus...usually an accordian bus, but this time it was a single bus. And it was packed already, to the point where I was standing in the front aisle right by the seats. Every stop we made, nobody got off, yet people continued to shove themselves on. And the bus driver said nothing. NOTHING. He just let them keep piling themselves into each other.

At some point, enough is enough. This may not be Dubai, with women's only seats. But it also isn't Dubai where buses come every hour or longer. Another bus comes 10 minutes later. Get on it. Morons.

*Just for the record, the first bus took almost 2 hours to get to the bus station (despite saying it would take 35 minutes), so I got to the station 11 minutes after the second bus I was supposed to take departed for the final time. I had to take a taxi. Boring.