DUBAI, UAE - FOR a city building the world's tallest skyscraper, largest airport and biggest man-made islands, Dubai's public transport system is still less than ordinary, straining its taxi fleet and roads.
Getting the transportation equation right is key to Dubai's competition for investments and tourists with its neighbours, including Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates' largest member.
'So far, Dubai doesn't have any public transport system worth mentioning,' said Mr Eckart Woertz, chief economist at the Gulf Research Centre in Dubai. 'The way it is, traffic is a serious disadvantage for Dubai as a place to do business.'
The first line of Dubai Metro, a US$4 billion (S$5.44 billion) light rail system, will not open until September next year, and traffic costs the local economy about 4.6 billion dirhams (S$859 million) a year in lost man-hours, according to Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority.
Sixty-one per cent of the congestion is due to the lack of alternatives, the authority said.
On the surface, Dubai is well-served by taxis compared to other metropolises. About 6,900 taxis serve its population of about 1.4 million, or 4.9 cabs per 1,000 people. That compares with 1.6 in New York, 2.7 in London and 4.7 in Tokyo, according to a survey by Bloomberg News.
It is the gridlock and lack of public transport - the city's bus service counts 500 coaches - that make the search for taxis nightmarish for residents and the more than six million business travellers and tourists who visit Dubai annually.
In addition to its iconic black cabs, London, by contrast, has a fleet of 8,000 buses. At peak hours, 522 Underground trains run at the same time, according to Transport for London.
Dubai has started some initiatives to ease the congestion. The government this year decided to allow carpooling. Four people will be able to share a ride, provided the driver registers his car and the names of those it will carry.
Until now, ride-sharing was punishable with a fine of as much as 5,000 dirhams to discourage illegal taxi services.
The transport authority will spend 52.5 billion dirhams over five years to expand bus, road and rail networks, chairman Mattar Al-Tayer said in March. By the end of this year, the city will increase the number of public buses to 1,200 and add 800 taxis, the agency said.
'That should help ease the problem,' said Mr Abdul Aziz Malik, chief executive of Dubai Taxi, one of seven companies that operate cabs in the city.
Meanwhile, taxi queues are bringing out the worst in people.
Mr Jim Cawley, 27, who is from London and has been working in Dubai for three months, said he is no longer surprised when people cut in line or fight for taxis.
'You have to be slightly cut-throat about these things,' he said 25 minutes into a taxi line outside the Dubai International Financial Centre, a tax-free business park. The centre started a limousine service for tenants after receiving complaints about taxi waits.
