Just Say No to ‘Salik’: Dubai’s Toll System
Salik, no sooner do I here the sound of that word and I get hackles. For those of you who do not know, Salik is Dubai’s attempt to limit traffic congestion by imposing tolls. The bad part of this idea comes-in when you realize that it will do nothing but raise revenue for Dubai RTA. Currently, there are very few alternatives to traveling Sheikh Zayed road. The Metro is years from completion. Alternative routes all have some construction and/or bottlenecks. In fact, Sheikh Zayed Rd. was one of the most complete routes in all of Dubai. Now, you will have to pay to use it.
Living in Sharajah I have the luxury of not driving on Shk. Zayed Rd.. And, until Dubai does something different about transport, I and my family will not use the Salik system. If we MUST go to Dubai, we will use the alternate routes.
This, of course, is going to majorly affect those malls and businesses (Mall of the Emirates, Mazaya Center, Wafi City) that rely on the easy access to Shk. Zayed to get customers into their stores. Out of town business will be affected in a major way.
It’s time RTA stopped listening to their British and British-trained road engineers! They are quickly turning Dubai into a copy of London’s transit system. Unfortunately, we all know what that is like!
Until that happens, I (and my family) will take our business elsewhere.
Oh, and citizens of Dubai… enjoy the new traffic jams created by the system.
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Tags: Alternate Routes, Bottlenecks, Citizens, Easy Access, Hackles, London Transit, Mall Of The Emirates, Malls, Mazaya Center, Metro, Road Engineers, Rta, Sheikh Zayed, Shk Zayed, Tolls, Town Business, Traffic Congestion, Traffic Jams, Transit System, Wafi City
