Air-Conditioned Bus Shelters Progress Report

I saw in the local newspapers back in early 2007 that Dubai would have air-conditioned bus shelters for summer, 2007. When I asked a representative of the RTA, he assured me that two had been put up, so that Dubai indeed had air-conditioned bus shelters for summer 2007.

Early in 2008, a shipload of bus shelters arrived and were distributed throughout Dubai. A few shelters have air condition units installed, though most only have a slot where, at some point, the A/C will be installed.

The shelters all said, 'Work in Progress. Do not enter,' and were packed with people waiting for their buses. A newspaper report said that the shelters were works in progress, and Dubai bus riders were asked not to enter them until they were completed. The shelters remained packed.

Then all the new shelters were surrounded by plywood, except for a narrow opening. Since the inside would have been dark and airless, I assume no one entered, though it was impossible to see inside (and I wasn't going to crawl through the opening).

Next, plywood doors appeared, covering the openings, and all these doors were locked.

But Dubai does not want tourists staring at plywood, so colourful plastic covers for the plywood were the next development, announcing that the new shelters were still works-in-progress.

No completion date has been announced.

But already people are writing letters to the editors of the local newspapers complaining about the shelters: for one thing, each stop only has one shelter, and many feel that men and women must have separate shelters. Others complained that the shelters have only eight seats, and will not be adequate.

But the RTA has announced a massive increase in the size of the fleet, promising shorter waiting times and fewer people waiting, and the air-conditioned shelters still sound very appealing to this regular bus rider.

So I'm willing to wait at least until summer before I start complaining.