If you ride the metro most days, per-trip fares are the expensive way to travel. Nol travel passes buy unlimited rides for 7, 30, 90 or 365 days – loaded onto the card you already carry – and the break-even math is friendlier than most people assume. Here are the real prices, the rules that catch buyers out, and who should skip passes entirely.
All-zones pass prices (Silver-class)
| Duration | All zones | Concession (Blue card) |
|---|---|---|
| 7 days | AED 110 | — |
| 30 days | AED 350 | AED 175 |
| 90 days | confirm at counter/app | confirm at counter/app |
| 365 days | AED 2,670 | — |
Two footnotes that matter: Gold Class versions cost exactly double the Silver price, and cheaper zone-limited passes exist – from AED 50 for a 7-day single-zone pass and AED 140 for a 30-day single-zone, per rta.ae – useful only if your life genuinely stays inside one zone. The 90-day all-zones price isn’t published on the RTA’s fare page; the S’hail app and station counters quote it live, and we list only what we can verify.
The three rules that catch people out
- Passes activate on your FIRST JOURNEY, not at purchase. Buy on Saturday, first ride Tuesday – your 30 days start Tuesday. Load it whenever convenient.
- Anonymous cards max out at 7 days. The off-the-shelf Silver/Gold card you bought at a machine can hold a weekly pass only. Monthly and longer require a REGISTERED card – the Blue personal card, or a Silver/Gold you’ve registered to your ID through the RTA.
- The pass covers regular class. Step into the Gold cabin on a Silver-class pass and you’re fare-evading (AED 100 fine) – the pass tier, like the card, decides your cabin.
Break-even math, done for you
- 7-day all zones (AED 110): beats per-trip pricing at 16+ maximum-fare rides a week – about 2-3 long rides a day. Heavy-touring visitors hit that; relaxed itineraries don’t (remember: the AED 14 daily cap already protects busy days on plain credit).
- 30-day all zones (AED 350): a commuter doing a 2-zone round trip daily spends ~AED 10-14/day = AED 220-300/month on credit – the pass wins the moment your commute is 3-zone, or you add evening/weekend trips. Cross-city commuters save AED 100+/month.
- Concession 30-day (AED 175): for students it’s almost automatic – half price on top of an already-winning number.
- 365-day (AED 2,670): equals about 7.6 monthly passes – four months’ commitment-free trial via monthlies first is the sane path unless your employer reimburses annually.
Pass vs the AED 14 daily cap – the comparison nobody publishes
Here is the arithmetic the pass-selling pages skip. Ordinary credit already carries a daily cap of AED 14 for regular-class metro and bus travel – so seven maxed-out days cost at most 7 × 14 = AED 98. The 7-day all-zones pass costs AED 110. On regular-class travel, capped credit beats the weekly pass every single time. The weekly pass earns its keep only in its Gold variant (the cap does not cover Gold Class) or for riders who value never thinking about balance. For visitors, the honest advice is: skip the weekly pass, load credit, let the cap protect your busy days. Monthly passes are different – AED 350 undercuts a month of capped commuting days (22 × 14 = AED 308 is close, but real commuters rarely cap every day, and the pass adds unlimited evenings and weekends where credit would keep charging).
How to buy one
- Register your card (or get a Blue card) via the RTA app/website – one-time, needs ID.
- At a station machine, counter, or in the nol Pay app: choose “travel pass”, pick duration and zone coverage, pay.
- Ride – the first tap starts the clock. The pass and your cash balance coexist; anything the pass doesn’t cover (a Gold upgrade, parking) draws from credit.