Silver / Personal
AED 25 (AED 19 usable credit)
Everyone who lives here. Register it to buy 30-day passes.
Standard metro, tram, bus, marine.
Ride
Metro, buses, tram, train — fares as of today
Checked against RTA’s public NOL table on 2 September 2026. Zones, not kilometres. Tap in, tap out.
Which NOL card
Gold
AED 70 (AED 20 usable credit)
Gold cabin on metro and tram. Double the ride fare.
Gold class metro / tram only. Buses stay standard.
Red ticket
Pay-as-you-go paper / disposable
A one-off tourist ride. More expensive per trip. Skip if you stay a week.
Regular or gold variants. No monthly pass.
Pay-as-you-go (AED)
Dubai is seven zones. Fare is how many you cross, across metro + tram + bus as one journey if you transfer within 30 minutes (max 180 minutes).
| Trip | Silver | Gold | Red | Red gold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Within 1 zone | 3 | 6 | 4 | 8 |
| 2 adjacent zones | 5 | 10 | 6 | 12 |
| More than 2 zones | 7.5 | 15 | 8.5 | 17 |
Children 5 and under: free. People of determination: free on a personal card. Students / eligible seniors: 50% on personal fares. Source: RTA NOL fares.
Silver travel passes (AED)
Register the card to buy 30 / 90 / 365-day passes. Anonymous silver/gold: 7-day only. Gold passes cost double. If you ride twice a day across the city, the 30-day all-zone pass at AED 350 is the sane default.
| Length | 1 zone | 2 zones | All zones |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 days | 50 | 80 | 110 |
| 30 days | 140 | 230 | 350 |
| 90 days | 330 | 550 | 830 |
| 365 days | 1060 | 1770 | 2670 |
Metro hours (all lines)
- Monday–Thursday05:00 – midnight
- Friday05:00 – 01:00 next day
- Saturday05:00 – midnight
- Sunday08:00 – midnight
First and last trains vary by station. Holidays often run long. Sunday 08:00 start is the one that strands night-shift people.
Lines
Red Line (MRed)
Centrepoint (R11, Rashidiya) ↔ Expo 2020 (R76) / Life Pharmacy (R42)
The spine along Sheikh Zayed Road. Airport T1/T3 (Airport Terminal 1, Airport Terminal 3), Burj Khalifa/Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates, Dubai Marina, Ibn Battuta, Expo.
Green Line (MGrn)
e& (G11) ↔ Creek (G30)
Deira, Union, BurJuman, Dubai Healthcare City, Creek. Useful if you live or work in older Dubai.
Dubai Tram
Al Sufouh Road and Jumeirah Beach Road — 11 stations, 10.6 km
Links Metro (SOBHA REALTY, DMCC) with Marina, JBR and the Palm Monorail. Hours: Mon–Sat 06:00–01:00; Sunday 09:00–01:00.
Interchange
- Union (R18 / G20) — Red ↔ Green
- BurJuman (R19 / G26) — Red ↔ Green
- SOBHA REALTY (R36) and DMCC (R37) — Metro ↔ Tram
Buses
City buses
About 1,500 buses. Network covers most urban Dubai. Hours roughly 04:00–01:00. Route C01 runs 24 hours. Same NOL fare as metro for the zones you cross.
Feeder to metro
Dozens of feeders start at metro stations. If your villa community has no metro, the feeder is the actual commute — not a taxi every morning.
Intercity (E routes)
E100, E101 (Abu Dhabi), E303 / E306 / E307 (Sharjah), E700 and others to Ajman, Hatta, Fujairah, Al Ain. NOL works. Allow extra time at rush hour.
Hatta
H02 Hatta Express: 07:00–19:00, about every two hours, AED 25. H04 hop-on hop-off in Hatta: AED 2 per stop, 07:00–21:00.
Creek boats
Abra (Creek)
Traditional wooden boat between Deira and Bur Dubai. Cash is still common — around AED 1 on the public crossing. The cheapest skyline in the city.
Water bus / ferry
NOL tap. Useful along the Creek and some marina hops. Check S'hail for the live route; they change with dredging and events.
Etihad Rail (national passenger train)
Introductory passenger service between Abu Dhabi and Fujairah started 30 June 2026. Dubai Al Yalayis station (Jumeirah Golf Estates) is scheduled to open 30 September 2026, with a bridge to the Dubai Metro. Book on etihadrail.ae — this is not a metro ride and not priced on NOL.
etihadrail.aeDo this, not that
- Buy a Silver NOL at any metro ticket office or airport station. Keep AED 7.5+ on it so a long trip does not bounce at the gate.
- Tap in and tap out. Forgetting to tap out charges the maximum.
- Transfers metro ↔ bus ↔ tram count as one journey if you retap within 30 minutes. Max journey 180 minutes; limited transfers.
- Gold cabin is the end cars on metro. Do not sit there on a Silver card — inspectors fine you.
- Women and children cabin is marked. Men travelling alone should not sit there.
- Peak wait is often under 4 minutes; off-peak around 7. Sunday start is later (08:00).
- Plan in the S'hail app (RTA). Google Maps is fine for metro; buses are more reliable in S'hail.
- Airport: Red Line serves T1 and T3. T2 needs a bus or taxi link. Luggage is allowed; keep aisles clear.
- Children 5 and under ride free. People of determination ride free on a personal card.
- Taxis and Careem are normal for late Sunday starts, villas off the feeder, and 02:00 finishes. Starting taxi fare is usually a little over AED 12 plus distance.