Metro

Dubai has finally joined the exclusive global club of cities with a Metro. With much fanfare a very limited service started on 09/09/09 at, predictably, 09.09pm. Sheikh Mohammed looked justifably proud as he opened it and took the first official ride.

Only 10 stations are open and only 6 trains per hour are running at the moment. The rest of the stations won't open until next February, but it is impressive that it has been built so quickly. I spent many years working on the Jubilee Line Extension and know how difficult a task it is to introduce a new rail system.

There is a lot of local interest in it, but it isn't clear yet how it is going to be useful to the majority of residents. Although they have laid on parking and feeder buses, it is very hard to compete with the car in such a hot climate and where there is a fast motorway running alongside the route.

I was in the Mall of the Emirates this evening and thought I'd go and have a ride and take some photos now that the novelty has worn off. Unfortunately, it was all a bit chaotic. I couldn't figure out how to pay and the queues were too long for me to be bothered. Instead, I got back in the car and went to practice some night photography on the beach next to the Burj al Arab.