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Today the UAE launched a new bus service which will transport passengers across the GCC country and Arab region.

It's a fine idea... if it were 1990.

Low budget airlines and cheaper air travel have pretty much killed the bus transport industry in most major cities. It goes without saying, that in the year 2007, it is actually far cheaper to travel by kilometre than almost any other form of transport.

The new bus line is to sport luxury seats, excellent dining options, wi-fi on the road and more... the only thing it doesn't have is wings and a couple of thousand pounds of thrust strapped to its tail... something most passengers actually want.

Thoughts?

Your right

it wont get used likewise nor will the new Metro. Nearest bust stop to my place 2kms, nearest plaaned metro station 1km - yup im gonna walk 1km in july/august to catch a metro into town NOT

Great, now how about introducing HD broadcast and 20mbit broadband?

Medvezhonok wrote:Great, now how about introducing HD broadcast and 20mbit broadband?

Hahahahhaha.

Come on man, surely buses are more important than this?

^ian^ wrote:Hahahahhaha.

Come on man, surely buses are more important than this?

Depends for who, I have no need for buses but I would use the the broadband and HD daily.

On a related note I find it staggering to see the amount of people who buy HDTVs - specially 1080p sets - in Dubai and have no HD source whatsoever at home. They end up connecting their non-upscaling DVD players and receivers via composite then complain that "it looked a lot nicer in the store".

Medvezhonok wrote:

^ian^ wrote:Hahahahhaha.

Come on man, surely buses are more important than this?

Depends for who, I have no need for buses but I would use the the broadband and HD daily.

No i was being sarcastic, I totally agree something needs to be done about the broadband.

On a related note I find it staggering to see the amount of people who buy HDTVs - specially 1080p sets - in Dubai and have no HD source whatsoever at home. They end up connecting their non-upscaling DVD players and receivers via composite then complain that "it looked a lot nicer in the store".

I think for HDTV this is really up to the TV Networks. Having said that, I use my HDTV for a lot of things:

* Xbox360 in HDTV
* Home Theatre PC
* Watching US HDTV Shows

I very rarely actually watch the local TV offering, even though I fork out 170 dh a month for the privilege. Purely for sport really, which Showtime do have in Widescreen, which is a start.

As for internet... don't get me started. Monopolies are wonderful things.

arniegang wrote:Your right

it wont get used likewise nor will the new Metro. Nearest bust stop to my place 2kms, nearest plaaned metro station 1km - yup im gonna walk 1km in july/august to catch a metro into town NOT

want to hear a funny story about this. a friend of mine worked for one of the consultancys. during a presentation with the minister of transport, someone brought up this exact problem... "we don't want to walk 2km in the middle of summer to get to the station and then another 1km from the station to work".
the answer from the minister was simple... get your driver to drop you off at the station in the morning and then pick you up on the other side and take you to the office, and then repeat the process in reverse in the evening.

he swears it's a true story!

dbxsoul wrote:

arniegang wrote:Your right

it wont get used likewise nor will the new Metro. Nearest bust stop to my place 2kms, nearest plaaned metro station 1km - yup im gonna walk 1km in july/august to catch a metro into town NOT

want to hear a funny story about this. a friend of mine worked for one of the consultancys. during a presentation with the minister of transport, someone brought up this exact problem... "we don't want to walk 2km in the middle of summer to get to the station and then another 1km from the station to work".
the answer from the minister was simple... get your driver to drop you off at the station in the morning and then pick you up on the other side and take you to the office, and then repeat the process in reverse in the evening.

he swears it's a true story!

And you believed him??

put it this way, after having worked in dubai for a long enough period of time... anything is possible

dbxsoul wrote:put it this way, after having worked in dubai for a long enough period of time... anything is possible

It is indeed believable.

It looks like it will be a mess. Even if people wanted to just drive to the station, leave the car at the station and take a taxi or walk from the destination this cannot be done - which is done in many other cities. There is no space at most stations for car parking or for taxis to stand (well not enough) anyway. I think taxis will be doing lots of short runs.

and ...............


we all know that Taxi drivers DO NOT like short runs

arniegang wrote:and ...............


we all know that Taxi drivers DO NOT like short runs

Mind you Arnie, considering the amount of people that go on Coach Trips from UK to Europe and also the Interstate Buses in the USA are thriving, maybe it's an Aussie thing

sage & onion wrote:Mind you Arnie, considering the amount of people that go on Coach Trips from UK to Europe and also the Interstate Buses in the USA are thriving, maybe it's an Aussie thing

There's a couple of reasons for the above.

Firstly, coach trips in Europe are practical because of the short distances involved between cities, and the practicality of mobility. They are now mostly full of budget holidayers of course, and the famous Kontiki tours. That said, the coach trip is not 'end to end' transport, rather a journey in itself. Other than that, Ryan Air and co. have made end to end air travel very affordable (even for you and Arnie!).

In the US... well, the trend has changed drastically with the surge of low budget airways. It has been cheaper for a long time to fly Los Angeles to Las Vegas than it is to coach it. Most of the small coach companies have either gone out of business or have been snapped up by the big fish, who in turn have been snapped up by the automotive industry giants. I wouldn't call that thriving - unless you call being bought out by an Industry giant thriving.

With the UAE Bus, you can expect to travel for many many hours, in the desert, with no stops and not much changing scenery. There's no cows to look at in the desert.

As for the Australian thing... you can fly from Brisbane to Sydney for $120 to $150 AU which is a 1 hour flight. Or... you can go by Greyhound Bus for $120 which is a 14 hour journey. Which would you take?

^ian^ wrote:

sage & onion wrote:Mind you Arnie, considering the amount of people that go on Coach Trips from UK to Europe and also the Interstate Buses in the USA are thriving, maybe it's an Aussie thing

There's a couple of reasons for the above.

Firstly, coach trips in Europe are practical because of the short distances involved between cities, and the practicality of mobility. They are now mostly full of budget holidayers of course, and the famous Kontiki tours. That said, the coach trip is not 'end to end' transport, rather a journey in itself. Other than that, Ryan Air and co. have made end to end air travel very affordable (even for you and Arnie!).

In the US... well, the trend has changed drastically with the surge of low budget airways. It has been cheaper for a long time to fly Los Angeles to Las Vegas than it is to coach it. Most of the small coach companies have either gone out of business or have been snapped up by the big fish, who in turn have been snapped up by the automotive industry giants. I wouldn't call that thriving - unless you call being bought out by an Industry giant thriving.

With the UAE Bus, you can expect to travel for many many hours, in the desert, with no stops and not much changing scenery. There's no cows to look at in the desert.

As for the Australian thing... you can fly from Brisbane to Sydney for $120 to $150 AU which is a 1 hour flight. Or... you can go by Greyhound Bus for $120 which is a 14 hour journey. Which would you take?

That would of course depend whether it was an Australian Pilot

If it's cheap enough, there might be people who use it. A large number of people will be going to Makkah this December by bus because the entire package costs 30%-40% less. The bus service to Oman is cheap at Dhs 90 return already.

sage & onion wrote:That would of course depend whether it was an Australian Pilot

Very few pilots on commercial airlines in Australia are Australian.... most Aussie pilots work for Singapore or Emirates.

^ian^ wrote:

sage & onion wrote:That would of course depend whether it was an Australian Pilot

Very few pilots on commercial airlines in Australia are Australian.... most Aussie pilots work for Singapore or Emirates.

Oh no, don't tell me

sage & onion wrote:

^ian^ wrote:

sage & onion wrote:That would of course depend whether it was an Australian Pilot

Very few pilots on commercial airlines in Australia are Australian.... most Aussie pilots work for Singapore or Emirates.

Oh no, don't tell me

Yep dipshit, lap it up.

Edit: don't edit my posts dipshit, next you'll be copying them.