Getting around: UAE public transport costs

Dubai: metro, tram and bus run on zones, not distance

Dubai's public transport map is split into 7 zones, covering the metro, the tram and public buses together. Your fare depends on how many zones you cross, not the distance in kilometres. A trip within one zone costs less than a trip across three or more.

Metro and bus transfers count as a single journey if you tap in again within 30 minutes, and the fare is calculated on the total zones crossed across both legs. Across 1 zone, 2 adjacent zones or more than 2 zones, the RTA allows up to 3 transfers within a 180-minute journey window (RTA, Nol Fares, accessed 2026-10-11).

These are the standard per-trip fares published by the RTA. The Red Ticket is a paper single-journey ticket for occasional riders who don't want a reloadable card. The Personal Nol card carries a 50% discount for students, senior Emiratis, citizens and social affairs cases, and is free for people of determination. Children aged 5 and under travel free on every card type (RTA, Nol Fares, accessed 2026-10-11).

Multi-day passes

If you're commuting daily, a pass works out cheaper than paying per trip, and the RTA sells passes in three tiers: 1 zone, 2 zones, or all zones. Picking the tier that matches your actual commute matters, since an all-zones pass can cost more than double a 1-zone pass for the same length. The RTA's published Silver and Gold pass prices are:

Students and senior Emiratis or citizens get their own discounted pass tiers (for example, AED 25 for a 7-day, 1-zone student pass), separate from the Silver and Gold prices above. Anonymous Silver and Gold cards can only hold the 7-day pass; a 30, 90 or 365-day pass requires a registered card (RTA, Nol Fares, accessed 2026-10-11).

Abu Dhabi: a boarding fee plus a per-kilometre rate

Abu Dhabi's standard public bus service, covering the city and its suburbs in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Al Dhafra, works differently. Instead of zones, it charges:

• An AED 2 boarding fee
• Plus 5 fils per kilometre travelled
• Capped at an AED 5 maximum fare per journey, which applies once a trip passes roughly 60 km

Transferring to another Standard Service bus doesn't cost an extra boarding fee, as long as you tap into the next bus within 60 minutes of tapping out, you're not travelling back the way you came, and you keep to a maximum of 2 transfers across 3 buses (Abu Dhabi Mobility, Public Transport Fare, accessed 2026-10-11).

Children aged 10 and under travel free on Abu Dhabi's public transport, a more generous cut-off than Dubai's age-5 threshold (Abu Dhabi Mobility, Public Transport Fare, accessed 2026-10-11).

To use the system you'll need a Hafilat smart card. The anonymous version costs AED 10 and is valid for 16 years. You can buy one at ticket vending machines, Abu Dhabi Cooperative Society (SPAR) and Al Ain Cooperative Society branches, Lulu Hypermarket and Lulu Exchange branches, or customer happiness offices at bus stations and the airport (Abu Dhabi Mobility, Hafilat Smart Cards, accessed 2026-10-11).

Taxis and ride-hailing in Dubai: one meter, several apps

In Dubai, the regular red-roof taxi runs on a single RTA-regulated meter, whether you flag one down on the street or book through Bolt, Careem or the RTA's own S'hail app. Dubai Taxi Company's own channel list names Bolt, Careem and S'hail as app booking options; it does not list Uber. Dubai Taxi Company publishes the rate as two separate structures:

The starting fare for app bookings shifts through the day and the peak windows move again on Fridays and weekends, so the table above simplifies the full weekday schedule. Dubai Taxi Company's published weekday bands are: AED 9 from 6-8am, AED 13 from 8-10am, AED 9 from 10am-4pm, AED 13 from 4-8pm, AED 9 from 8-10pm, and AED 10 overnight from 10pm-6am. On Fridays the evening peak runs 4pm-12am instead of 4-8pm, and on weekends the single daytime band runs 6am-4pm before the 4pm-12am peak. The per-kilometre rate stays the same at AED 2.45 regardless of booking method, day or time. On top of the fare, Salik toll charges apply when your route passes through a toll gate, trips crossing into Sharjah carry a flat AED 20 surcharge, and waiting time is charged at 50 fils per minute. The minimum fare is AED 12 for a street hail and AED 13 for an app booking (Dubai Taxi Company, Taxi service fees, accessed 2026-10-11).

Taxis in Abu Dhabi: a flagfall plus per-kilometre meter

Abu Dhabi Mobility's Silver Taxi, the standard taxi in the emirate, runs on its own metered structure rather than Dubai's zone-free, time-banded one:

Abu Dhabi also runs a separate Airport Taxi and Vito Airport Taxi fare, both with a flat AED 20 flagfall, the same AED 1.82 per-km rate and AED 0.50 per-minute waiting charge, and a booking fee of AED 4 by day or AED 5 by night (Abu Dhabi Mobility, Taxi Fares, accessed 2026-10-11). This page does not state whether ride-hailing apps such as Careem run on this same Silver Taxi meter or a separate rate, so treat it as the confirmed rate for the standard taxi only.

A note on where you live

If transport cost is a factor in choosing a home, proximity to a metro or bus zone boundary can matter more than raw distance, since crossing a zone line changes the fare bracket. It's worth checking this alongside the practical basics in renting a home in the UAE.