Hi Time Out! I heard you people were very smart, any chance you can solve my transportation issue? I live in Dubai but work in Abu Dhabi, and I’m interested in ridesharing. Any suggestions?
What a very environmentally friendly choice you’ve made; or is it just that you’d rather get an extra hour or so of sleep while some other poor sap drives you to work? Either way, carpooling saves an estimated yearly 38 metric tons of CO2 in the country, so Mother Nature appreciates your question.
Despite the respectable numbers, carpooling is still less common than we’d like it to be, mostly because of relatively low prices of fuel, the ease of purchasing a car, and the lack of communication between employees. To overcome this, head to www.carpoolworld.com, a website dedicated to global car pooling with a thriving UAE community of several thousand. It’s a pretty easy-to-use system, where you fill in a form explaining your trip requirements, confirm your email address and then receive a match list with multiple carpooling options. The site uses several flavours of Google Maps, and you’ll find handy visuals of common routes.
If you’d like a quick and dirty solution, however, head to the ever-popular www.dubizzle.com and find the Car Lift section under Community; there are always plenty of ads, although many of them are obsolete, and some are spam. Still, sorting by date should rectify much of the issue. Be wary any dubious ads, though, and if anything feels off just move on.
There are also plenty of personal initiatives going on in the capital. If you work in a tower – as most of us do – post a note on your floor’s notice board, or in the building’s lobby or any communal areas. The best thing about this type of advertising is that you’re at least sure your ride will reach the correct building and possibly on time; and, of course, a familiar face behind the wheel is always better than a complete stranger.
And above all, be careful, and be responsible. Driving with strangers carries plenty of inherent risks. Not that we lack faith in the human race as a whole, but we strongly advise exercising common sense before agreeing to carpool with someone.
If nothing else, your new car-buddy could be a terrible or reckless driver, have a tendency to be late to work, have a penchant for ear-bursting house beats or even suffer from acute narcolepsy; these and plenty of other issues should be discussed in detail before you pair up for the drive. Good luck getting to work!
