Millhouse

What on Earth is going on?

I hardly use the car these days in the city, but when I do I'm shocked by how long it takes to do anything. Today, I had the misfortune of driving from downtown to Ibn Butta Mall, and back.

Due to leaving something at Ibn, I had to do the journey almost twice, each time solid traffic. This is at 11am.

We know the job market is down, real estate is down, construction down, tourism down, - what are all these people doing in their cars and where are they going?

scrubbedexpat141

I have next to no idea but it's unreal busy isn't it. All times of day it'll be busy.

We finish at 1600 on Thursdays and I drive back from JLT to Business Bay and it used to take about 15mins at that time, now it's just like leaving at 1730. Carnage.

I won't go anywhere on a Thursday night because everywhere around Downtown / Marina / Anywhere are absolutely jam packed.

Irishbeekeeper

Idiot first time owner drivers + banks giving cars to tom and dick and Harry + used car showrooms in Ras Al khor / Sharjah also dishing out cars through bank on extremely good terms + no rule for expiry of old car on the road = clogging up on every turnoff
Rents have gone up and fuel is down so people get cheap flats outside of Dubai and would rather spend 2 hours of commute in their cheap cars each way than pay extra and live closer by I guess.
Introduction of 10 year old car limitation should do the trick but ain't gonna happen I think

Irishbeekeeper

Oh and Ofcourse the fact that they have made it very easy to get the license now (more licenses means more money )
AND that they have quietly doubled the NOL charges in the past 1 year also pushed people to rather get a cheap car than use the public system

Cypselos

It was more hectic than normal on SZR in both directions this morning.

I've found getting in and out of Downtown a fair bit easier actually recently.

I think pretty much all the traffic in the entire place is actually caused by lane disciplne, or the lack there of, rather than actual volume of traffic

Cretins getting in the correct lane so late they ccome across 5 lanes of traffic in about 200 metres so everyone has to slam on the brakes, and dumbasses blocking lanes while they cut in.

Millhouse

but but but - this isn't quite true.

Cheaper fuel is off the back of a large increase.
Dubai rent drops are marginal - not like the 25% drop that saw people shift from shitjar like before. Rents in Shitjar track dubai's and so the economics of saving vs. lifestyle remain the same. The average Indian would still rather save more money than time.
Car loan volumes are very low in fact, this is a problem for the banks.
NOL charges maybe up, but has the number of people in the metro dropped? I don't feel that.
Are they really passing more people? People still complain about the number of trys needed.

The roads just always look busy, and I can't understand why...

Irishbeekeeper

Mate, a 2 bedroom in Bur is up from 65 to 110
1 bedroom from 55 to 80
Studio from 38 to 50
Compared to Sharjah :
2 bedroom for 72 and a 4 bedroom for 110 (depending on location Ofcourse)
Plus school fees are much much cheaper there and a LOT more schools on offer there in Sharjah / Alain
500 for a kid for a standard Pak / Indian school usually
So definitely a big saving overall mate, Ofcourse 'big saving' is relative. For some 1500 a month is a huge saving and for some it's a weekend in RAK
I know of at least 3 families who have shifted to Sharjah just based on school fees and rents alone. Pay less and get a bigger place. Plus no bars and massage parlors there so more religious types want to shift there with their kids growing up (don't ask why or sharkie will drop a tangent )

scrubbedexpat141

Yep. I sit off the car in front and rarely have to stamp on brakes. Often find yourself sat behind someone stamping on brakes / flooring it. Desperate not to let people in and desperate to keep right up with the car in front.

I'm sure I read /saw something years ago that said a car braking on a motorway means the car behind brakes slightly harder, car behind slightly harder until miles back it has to stop.

DXBtoDOH

It won't explain all the traffic problems but coming back from AD I've noticed that the two big bottlenecks are for Hessa Street and Umm Suqeim Street.

In both cases you have to queue way in advance to get onto a narrow one-lane slip road that weaves past a petrol station (Hessa) and the mall (Umm Suqeim) before finally opening up into their respective roads.

The above two are two of the major routes to Dubailand. So the rush hour traffic for those two roads are massive, and causes bottlenecks that spill over onto Sheikh Zayed, which slows down the traffic and worsens the bottleneck and gives off the impression that Sheikh Zayed is a solid parking lot from the Greens to god knows where.

Instead of spending all the money on the canal the RTA should have diverted some of it into constructing proper exits/tunnels/flyovers to allow people to get to Hessa or Umm Suqeim Streets. If they had designed them from day one half the traffic problem on Sheikh Zayed would disappear, at least we wouldn't get a bottleneck till after MoE (heading towards creek).

Other than that I do agree it's mystifying how much traffic has increased since summer. It's much worse than before the summer. Population explosion? But not supported by what economic news we know.

Millhouse

but these economics have not changed for years...

Inselaffen

Don't think they have made it any easier to pass the driving test. the more people they fail the more extra lessons and retests people have to do. A nice little earner

Irishbeekeeper

yes, I agree that they make more money by failing them but I am next door to a driving school so the manager working there and their instructors have become good acquaintances and their perception is that the average number of tries for most (if not all) candidates has come down to a minimum of 2 and a maximum of 4. So the best of them wont make it the first time either but the worst of them will pull through eventually as well. There were accusations of one of the establishment (sharjah based) having the option of buying your way through the entire thing as well (every thing but the last test) and to be honest after seeing some of the drivers in the past few years here on the road, I wouldnt be too surprised

Inselaffen

I wish the Mrs had only done 4. 7 and quit

Meow

If she couldn't pass after seven attempts it's probably best for everyone that she doesn't drive.

scrubbedexpat141

Lunchtime yesterday from Satwa to Business Bay. Unreal amount of traffic trying to join the road by the new City Walk project that goes towards the downtown turn offs over SZR. Took so long that I ended up going back to Trade Centre and then down SZR to get home.

It's bizarre, how busy places are when everyone is moaning that the markets are tough.