The News
Riyadh Metro inaugurated three of its six lines on Sunday, a milestone for the city’s infrastructure which provides residents and visitors with a long-anticipated public transit option in an otherwise car-dependent city suffering worsening gridlock. The first lines will run to stations at Riyadh’s airport road and central thoroughfares Olaya Street and King Abdulaziz Road.
King Abdullah Financial District metro station is one of the stations now open to the public: Designed by the renowned Zaha Hadid Architects firm, the stop from the outside looks like a cascade of glass scales atop a cream backdrop. Already an iconic landmark in the so-called New Riyadh, the building like others mixes a futuristic motif with the trio of colors commonly seen in old Riyadh: Creams, light blues, dark greens.
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Sarah’s view
Riyadh has long had bad traffic, but the construction boom over the last six years, and the addition of hundreds of thousands of female drivers to the road, has transformed traffic jams into endless nightmares (social media is littered with videos of people screaming their Riyadh traffic woes into the void).
The opening of the metro as well as new bus lines is expected to lessen the burden of intracity movement, but drivers Semafor chatted to about the metro ahead of its opening are less than hopeful: The city is actively growing, they point out, with more housing being built every year to meet demand. Tourists are increasingly flowing into Riyadh each year — more are expected to come for the 2034 men’s soccer World Cup and the 2030 Expo. Many residents are wary that the relief the metro will have on traffic will be short-lived.
Know More
- Flexible fares: Tickets can be bought at stations or on the Darb app, or with a contactless bank card, Apple Pay, or Mada Pay at the gates. On offer are passes for 2 hours [4 SAR, or $1.06], 3 days [20 SAR], 7 days [40 SAR], or 30 days [140 SAR].
- Luxury travel: First-class cabins are available for 2.5 times the regular price.
- Discounts: Students, seniors, people with disabilities, cancer patients, and government employees get a 50% discount. Children under 6 ride for free.
- Wi-Fi: Not yet, but planned.
- Operational hours: Trains run 6 a.m. to midnight daily.