scrubbedexpat141

Picked up a mate in Sports City about 2 weeks ago, we were heading to AD to the golf.

Took the new road (311) almost all the way.

It was an absolute dream. Empty. 3-4 lanes wide, a handful of roundabouts but once they're gone it's pure, beautiful, new asphalt. I sat in the slow lane almost the whole way, I had cruise control on and rested a few fingers on the base of the steering wheel.

Wonderfully boring, but totally stress free cruise. Cut up around Al Rahba, no issues.

Drove home on the normal road. Chaos. Fundamentally unpleasant if you get it on a bad day.

Brains1983

We stay just off where the extensions starts, it's made our trips to Abu Dhabi a lot less stressful. Just a shame they didn't do a better job of linking it to Yas.

scrubbedexpat141

Gotta hope the link roads up will improve in time. But what a lovely, pleasant, relaxing cruise it was.

Was also lucky I had a full tank....

DXBtoDOH

Ah..... fond memories of the AD-DXB drag race thrice weekly. Fond memories

Loved roaring along in the fast lane at 141-142km and ignoring all the rush hour flashers. Nothing as fun as pissing off a few Arabs though had a few near misses when they tried to play games with me via their brakes

All that said, I'm glad I'm no longer doing the race. Still can't believe I did it for nearly two years and survived! In one piece!

Haven't driven a car since November last. It's all taxis for me and a short 10 minute ride to the office.

scrubbedexpat141

DXBtoDOH

Metro ain't open in Doha, mate and I'll be gone before the line starts running. And can't really walk/cycle. There are supposed to be busses but come to think of it I'm not sure if I've ever seen one.

Using taxis to get around Doha is costing me less than what I spent on renting a car / petrol / salik in Dubai.

scrubbedexpat141

I got an uber to the Marina last night and the thieves have changed the way you 'accept' a higher rate. 197 AED is robbery.

DXBtoDOH

Whoa?!

What happened?

I've stopped using uber and even careem here in Doha. They're more expensive and take longer to turn up than just going out and hailing a taxi. And the taxi drivers know the city better than the private drivers do. One upside to the collapse of the Qatari economy in the past year is that taxis are now everywhere

scrubbedexpat141

Dunno, apparently I 'accepted' the surcharge but the way they now display it is really poor. Deceitful and poor.

Shame really as I liked their service a lot and used it quite a bit.

Still, **** them. I won't be anymore. Kept the app and account for them to reply to my last message. Once I get the reply I'll delete it all I think.

Got Careem and will try them for a while along with normal cabs again. Got one home and was fine.

DXBtoDOH

Careem is the best. Cars are always clean and drivers generally know where they're going because of the app.

I did have one bad experience with Careem. Driver accepted the request and was only 1km away, but took 15 minutes to arrive and I could follow his movement and he was just going around in circles that made no sense, then drove right past me, and when I rang him, he apologised and said he was coming back via the next u-turn. Then he drove straight through the next intersection

He finally turned up 30 minutes late. In that time a dozen free taxis passed me but I couldn't cancel the ride without a penalty.

But other than that they're mostly fine. I appreciate that they keep their cars spotless.

scrubbedexpat141

I tried Careem first on way home last night, was at Pier 7. I'm sure it's not hard to find out where I am.

He drove around Marina Mall car park for 7 minutes. I rang him. He told me to go to Marina Mall and find him in the car park. I laughed and asked him to cancel the trip so I didn't incur a penalty, he refused....he also refused to come to where I actually way because 'too much traffic'.

I cancelled it, got charged 16 dizzers, sent immediate shitty message.

These things are great until the human element of an idiot cabbie is involved.

The other thing that does my ****ing head in is their total ignorance of where you are and making assumptions. We live next to a hotel. I drop the pin by our entrance. They ALWAYS (I mean this, 100%) go to the hotel.

I ring, where are you mate?
At hotel sir *wobble wobble*
I'm not, I'm here
Where
Here
Where
Here
Where
**** it. Stay at the hotel. I'll come to you

Get there, ask to see the app, point at the fact they're 200 yards from the pin.

Suddenly and totally forget how to speak English, say sorry a few times, probably give me a shit rating for asking them to be better at 33% of their ****ing job.


Oh that was a Room 101 post but it can stay here.

CeeBee

Uber in the UK are fantastic. I once got told off for not staying where I situated the pin. In Dubai they're absolutely useless. Several times I've been stood watching them on my phone to see where they are and I've had to phone to ask if they're going to actually move.

I haven't used careem yet but I do like the way the surcharge is specified rather than uber who just give you an estimated price and you can't see the surcharge rate any more.

RTA is still the way to go I think (apart from any time between 4 and 6 wanting to get a cab that doesn't go towards the airport).

Bahtatboy

Pretty much identical for me, 'cept mine was usually 5 times a week.

Although I have a car here, but VIP accommodation to office is 3 minutes.