Dubai Metro

The Dubai Metro is the backbone of public transport in the emirate: two driverless lines today, two more under construction, 55 stations by current RTA naming, and fares from AED 3 per journey. This page is the complete network overview – what exists, what is coming, how to ride it, and where to find timings, the map, fares and every station guide on this site.

What runs today

Two lines share identical operating hours and the same Nol fare system:

• Red Line – 35 stations from Centrepoint (airport end) through Downtown and the Marina to Expo 2020 and the Life Pharmacy branch. Includes DXB Terminals 1 and 3.
• Green Line – 20 stations from e& through Deira’s souq circuit to Creek. The old-Dubai loop most tourists miss.

They meet at Union and BurJuman – the only two-station interchanges where you change trains without tapping out. Every other “connection” on the map is a single continuous journey on one line.

A driverless network, briefly

The Dubai Metro opened on 9 September 2009 and has run fully automated – no drivers – ever since, making it one of the longest driverless metro networks in the world. That automation is why trains can run every two minutes at peak and why the front of each train has a full windscreen instead of a cab: the Gold Class cabin at the very front offers the best forward view on any metro, watching the Downtown skyline rush toward you. Stations are climate-controlled, screened from the platform edge by full-height glass doors, and the whole system was built barrier-free from day one, so lifts and level boarding exist at every stop. Since 2009 the network has carried more than 2.8 billion passengers, hitting 295 million in 2025 alone.

Metro or taxi? When each wins

The metro is not always the answer, and an honest guide says so. Here is the real decision:

• Metro wins on cost (the longest possible ride is AED 7.50 versus AED 60-100+ by taxi across the city), on rush-hour predictability (it skips Sheikh Zayed Road’s 7-9 AM and 5:30-7:30 PM jams entirely), and for solo or paired travellers going between stations near their destination.
• Taxi wins door-to-door with three or more large bags, in the overnight gap when the metro is closed, for groups of four where the fare split approaches metro cost, and for anywhere far from a station – Jumeirah beach, the older villa districts, Global Village.
• The hybrid most residents actually use: metro for the long haul, then a short taxi for the final kilometre. Metro to Mall of the Emirates, taxi to Kite Beach. It is usually the fastest and cheapest combination.

Our metro vs taxi guide works through the common journeys with numbers.

Getting to the big destinations

Most first-time searches are really “how do I get to X.” The short answers:

Full walkthroughs with fares and timing are in destinations, and any station-to-station journey can be priced in the fare calculator.

Why station counts differ online

You will see 47, 55, 67 or 120 km quoted in different places. All are defensible depending on what you count:

• 55 = Red (35) + Green (20) with interchanges counted on both lines – our default.
• 53 = distinct physical stations (Union and BurJuman once each).
• 67 = media figure treating Route 2020 as a separate line and counting interchanges differently.

We explain the full breakdown on the map page – the only honest answer is to show your working. The same care applies to station names: Dubai renames stations regularly under naming-rights deals (Al Khail became Al Fardan Exchange and Jabal Ali became National Paints in 2025 alone), so a five-year-old map can send you to a platform that no longer carries that name. Every station page here lists current and former names, and the rename database tracks the lot.

What’s being built

Blue Line – opens 9 September 2029

14 stations, 30 km, Y-shaped: a Creek branch through Dubai Creek Harbour and a Centrepoint branch through Mirdif, merging at International City 1 (designed as the network’s largest underground interchange). Construction was ~30% complete mid-2026. Full tracker: Blue Line page.

Gold Line – opens 9 September 2032

AED 34 billion, 42 km, 18 fully underground stations from Al Ghubaiba to Jumeirah Golf Estates. RTA has not published station names – only route corridors and interchange points. Live tender tracker (bids due August 2026): Gold Line page.

Together the two lines take the network from 120 km to 162 km and, on the RTA’s counting, from 67 to 85 stations – a 35% expansion – and add four new interchange points at Creek, Centrepoint, Business Bay and Jumeirah Golf Estates.

How to use the metro (60-second version)

1. Buy a Silver Nol card at any station machine (AED 25, AED 19 credit included).
2. Tap in at the gate; tap out at exit – forgetting costs the maximum fare.
3. Board the train showing your direction on the platform screen (terminus name, not “north/south”).
4. Regular cabin unless you hold a Gold card or are using the Women & Children cabin (rules on the first-time guide).

Operating hours: Mon-Thu and Sat 5:00 AM-midnight, Fri 5:00 AM-1:00 AM, Sun 8:00 AM-midnight. Full table and myth-busters: timings page.

Beyond the metro: trams, buses, water and rail

The Nol card is a single key to the whole system, and the metro is designed to hand you off to the rest of it. The Dubai Tram connects to the Red Line by footbridge at Sobha Realty and DMCC, serving Marina and JBR; a metro-to-tram transfer within 30 minutes counts as one journey. Feeder and intercity buses radiate from stations – the E100 to Abu Dhabi from Al Ghubaiba, the E101 from Ibn Battuta, Sharjah routes from e&. Abras and water buses cross Dubai Creek from the Green Line’s old-Dubai stations for as little as AED 1. And from 2026 Etihad Rail passenger service begins connecting at Jumeirah Golf Estates – a future intercity link the Gold Line will plug into in 2032. On this network, “take the metro” nearly always means a seamless chain of modes on one tap.

Families, accessibility and etiquette

Children aged five and under travel free. Every train has a Women & Children cabin (pink floor markings) that women may use at their option and men may not enter, and every station is step-free with lifts, wide gates and in-cabin wheelchair spaces – People of Determination travel free on a registered Nol card. The rules that carry fines are worth knowing before you ride: no eating or drinking (water included) past the gates, no smoking or vaping, and always tap out. The full picture is on rules & fines, and the first-time guide walks a complete first journey step by step.

Quick links – every question answered

• Timings today – hours, frequency, last-train guidance
• Interactive map – all 55 stations, current names, PDF download
• Fares & calculator – zone fares, Nol cards, passes, daily cap
• Route guides – station-to-station directions and fares
• All stations – filter by line and zone
• Line guides – Red, Green, Blue, Gold in detail
• Journey guides – airport, Nol card, first ride, Ramadan, accessibility
• Destinations – Burj Khalifa, Marina, souqs, Expo
• Rules & fines – including the AED 300 eating myth correction
• Zones explained – the 7-zones, 3-fares system
• Rename database – every former name since 2009

Arabic

Full Arabic versions of the six money pages plus two guides live under /ar/ – مواعيد، خريطة، أسعار، مخالفات، مناطق، أسئلة شائعة.

Last verified against RTA sources July 2026. Unofficial guide – for live service updates use the RTA S’hail app.