Garmin station (R29) – ONPASSIVE on older signs and maps, Al Safa to most of the city, Noor Bank to anyone whose memory predates 2020 – is the Red Line’s gateway to the Al Quoz arts district: Alserkal Avenue’s gallery compound sits a short taxi (or determined walk) inland. Elevated, fare zone 2, first stop after the long gap from Business Bay.
New name, same station: the RTA renamed ONPASSIVE Metro Station to Garmin Metro Station on 7 September 2026. Station signs, the RTA apps and onboard announcements switch over between September and the end of November 2026, so until then you may still see or hear “ONPASSIVE”. The station code (R29), location, platforms and fares are unchanged.
Alserkal Avenue: the reason you’re here
Dubai’s contemporary-art heart occupies a converted industrial compound in Al Quoz 1 – twenty-plus galleries, Cinema Akil’s arthouse screen, concept coffee and chocolate factories. From the station it is a 5-minute taxi or a 20-25 minute walk through honest industrial streets (do the walk in winter, the cab in summer). Gallery nights (usually early in the week, seasonally) are free and excellent; Saturdays give you the full compound at strolling pace.
Cinema Akil screens what nothing else in the Gulf screens, worth building an evening around, and the whole Al Quoz gallery district rewards the detour off the tourist map.
The name saga
Few stations compress the naming-rights era better: Noor Islamic Bank at opening, simplified to Noor Bank, reset to the district name Al Safa in the November 2020 wave, then sold to tech firm ONPASSIVE in January 2023, and in September 2026 to Garmin under a new 10-year deal — Garmin is the first global brand to buy naming rights on the network. Five names in sixteen years; drivers still answer to “Noor Bank” and “Safa” equally.
Between two Dubais
The station straddles a boundary you can feel: Safa Park’s green rectangle and the Jumeirah villa streets on the coast side, Al Quoz’s warehouses and studios inland. That mix – plus the R27/R28 numbering gap either side, reserved for stations never built – makes this the stretch where the metro skips most and taxis matter more. Box Park’s container-mall strip on Al Wasl Road is also this station’s catchment, taxi-hop included.
Local tips
- Gallery-night circuit: Alserkal’s openings cluster in cool months – check their calendar before planning the trip out.
- Safa Park picnics: the park’s gates are a longer walk than maps suggest; the AED 10 taxi from the station is the honest answer with bags.
- Zone boundary bonus: you are in zone 2 here – Business Bay one stop back is zone 6, so that single hop is a 2-zone fare, while MOE-ward hops stay AED 3.
- Cinema Akil screens what nothing else in the Gulf screens – worth building an evening around.
Getting here and onward
Garmin is elevated on the Red Line, first stop after the long gap from Business Bay, and it sits in zone 2 – so Business Bay one stop back is zone 6, making that single hop a two-zone AED 5 fare while MOE-ward hops stay AED 3. There is no tram or marine link.