Dubai Metro has imposed over 8,600 fines to people travelling in the Gold Class without valid NOL cards in the last year.

According to Ramadan Abdullah, Director, Rail Operations that 1,236 fines were issued in the last two months alone and that a total of 7,398 fines were issued in 2012, up from 2,839 in 2011. The increase has been indicated to the increase in the number of Metro trips and the number of passengers.

Moreover, those travelling in the Gold Class with a Silver card are fined Dh200 and they include passengers who cheat by paying their fare with the Silver card, but show the Gold card when inspectors check them. Electronic tracking devices give them away and failure to produce the NOL card during an inspection also incurs a fine of Dh200.

As a matter of fact, there is no mechanism yet to detect repeat offenders according to Mr. Abdullah who added that tourists travelling in the Gold Class with invalid tickets are often let off with a warning and such passengers are usually asked to move to another compartment at the next station.

According to one regular Gold Class passenger this is very common at stations like the World Trade Centre where visitor traffic is heavy.

While another passenger said fines must be imposed on those who occupy seats meant for pregnant women and the elderly. In fact, he added that they don’t get up from these seats unless they are asked to by the Metro staff.

To conclude, the RTA monitors passengers and ticket violations on the Metro and frequency of proceeding inspections has been changed accordingly while Mr. Abdullah said that in 2012 Dubai Metro sold a total of 342,003 Gold cards.

There is always a way to overcome violations if one stands firm on the rules and stress on the associated punishments if ignored.

(AW:Samrat Biswas)