D.C. vs. Dubai: Who Does Metro Better?

By Asha Beh     www.nbcwashington.com 

D.C.’s got a nice Metro. Definitely better than NYC’s when it comes to cleanliness and smells.

But how nice would it be to have a line like this?

The Red Line in Dubai runs for 52 kilometers, it has 29 stations and separate compartments for first class passengers  and for women. It also has wireless Internet service on every train.

The monorail also impresses passengers with its air-conditioned stations and fantastic views.

 They’ve even got a Green Line in the works. It’s expected to open over the next year, expanding the system to about 47 stations along 46 miles of railway, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Wait a minute… 47 stations? That’s how many we have. The air conditioning of our stations is also pretty questionable, given the major humidity that makes our clothes stick to us as soon as we descend into a Metro station during a typical D.C. summer. (And we’re not even going to get into what it does to our hair.)

So how is it that some small town in the middle of the desert has wireless Internet, and we’re still a month away from getting it? And only in 20 stations for now, no less, if this press release from Metro is right.

We’re not that keen on the separate compartments for women, but who knows? Might be good when trying to avoid stalkers.

But first class compartments? We could go for that. As long as they weren’t the older, crushable cars at the front of the train.

So why a Metro in Dubai? In a Persian Gulf boomtown where Porsches share the road with truckloads of South Asian laborers, it’s their attempt at easing gridlock. Just in time for World Carfree Day. How convenient…  

Do we really care if theirs is better than ours? Do you have any pride?

There is one thing we’ve got over them, though: riders. 

Yep, it seems the locals in Dubai just can’t stand the 104 degree heat long enough to leave their cars and walk into their sweet, air-conditioned Metro stations. That, and gas runs about $1 a gallon.

But we’re not going to think about that last part too much.

For now, D.C. 1, Dubai O.