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We are the smart travelers
Kaelene predicted an erosion of the social order in Abu Dhabi, so this is not a situation which could be put down to the benefit of hindsight. It was plain that the introduction of charging for previously free transport on city buses would alter dynamics for the worse, and so it has been. Just yesterday a man refused to relinquish a priority seat, leaving several ladies standing for an entire journey. Such would never have happened before. Neither too the Somali teenager who aggressively demanded to be let off while the bus was stationary at traffic lights. So aggressive that he tried to seize the controls and open the doors himself, only dissuaded when the driver grabbed his arm and forcibly restrained him.
There are now several options to pay for travel. A monthly Ojra (Arabic for fare) pass at a cost of 40 dirham ($21.52) allows unlimited journeys while a daily pass costs 3 dirham. Failing that, a passenger is required to put a one dirham coin in a collection box. Drivers steadfastly refuse to give change, so if a passenger doesn’t have a dirham coin they get kicked off. Simple, and it happens regularly, but for one recent passenger who remonstrated with the driver, demanding change for a note and refusing to get off the bus when told. What then developed was the Abu Dhabi standoff. The driver brought the bus to a standstill between stops, got out of his seat, went halfway down the bus and the two continued what had by then become a shouting match. A number of passengers tried to intervene, offering change and then the dirham to both driver and passenger, but to no avail. By then it was a matter of pride and neither would accept the money or back down, the stalemate eventually broken in three-way phone discussions with a transport company manager.
Passengers regularly get dressed down for some infraction or another, today a man wasn’t waiting at the right part of the bus stop and he copped an earful, the other day a woman got in the wrong door. An Englishman regaled Kaelene with a story that on one trip he experienced, the driver stopped the bus in the middle of the road, got out of his seat, walked down the aisle and closed a window towards the rear of the bus. He then gave the passengers a lengthy lecture about having the window open while the air conditioning was on, it did not matter one iota that traffic built up behind, car drivers blaring horns in a chorus of frustration.
As for us, we are the smart travelers and have our monthly Ojra pass, and dare not put a foot wrong.
Disclaimer: The photo is of the most laid-back driver on the number 32 route. He exhibits none of the bad characteristics described above.