Chris Saul's Blog

Sunday September 13, 2009

Metro challenges

This article gives a good idea of the challenges in setting up something 'new' here.

Forget about the technical difficulties - the human side of things is just as important.

This sort of thing can be extremely frustrating, but it's also one of the aspects of living in Dubai that can be very interesting. It can sound like a cliche, but this place really is something of a cultural crossroads. You do learn to become a lot more flexible and to start thinking of aspects to projects that you'd never have to consider to the same degree in your home country - this applies to people regardless of where they're from.

How do you train hundreds of thousands of people how to ride a modern train system, how to queue, how to wait for people to get off a coach before getting on, how not to muck around with the emergency button? This stuff is taken as read when you extend a London Underground line by a few stations. Dubai has rather more of a challenge.

It's not uncommon to come across people who are frightened of getting on escalators at Dubai airport, for example. I find myself helping Aunty-gees hop on once or twice a year.

I'm sure it can be quite frightening if you've got hand luggage, aren't that mobile and are suddenly faced with a large moving staircase that you've either not seen before, or never really had to use. It's probably also a bit frightening when a large Englishman grabs your luggage and helps you on and off, but at least it keeps things moving. I must learn the Hindi, Urdu or Punjabi for 'let me help you, respected elderly person'.