As I told you at the beginning, if you dissect the whole of Qatar using Karwa Bus, you will automatically go back and forth in a central terminal in Doha, namely Al Ghanim Bus Station.
I am a backpacker who loves city buses and while at Qatar in five days exploration, for seven times, I visited this bus terminal which was the headquarters of Mowasalat (Qatar’s state transportation company).
Not big enough, in terms of size, Al Ghanim Bus Station is still less spacious than Tirtonadi Terminal in Solo (my hometown) or Kampung Rambutan Terminal in East Jakarta (the town which I am living now). This terminal is like a bus terminal in small towns on Java island….Tidar Terminal in Magelang for example….Yes, that’s my guess.
I instantly understood that there was no need for a large terminal to serve the territory of the state of Qatar, which is only twice the size of Bali island.
That afternoon, heat of the sun collided with low temperature of the air blowing over the Qatar Peninsula. Smooth and scorching sand took advantage of wind current to mercilessly beat my face. But now I was wearing a rayban glasses which made me boldly and stylishly walking on Doha streets.
Starting from Casper Hotel, I cutted through the city in a bus which running for about five kilometers and arrived in half an hour at Al Ghanim Bus Station. Not expensive, only 2.5 Riyal to be paid to the Karwa Bus tap machine.
Facility
Arriving at the terminal, I was in no rush to just leave it. I let my time wasted a little just by sitting on a waiting chair which made from white painted wood. Observing Qataris faces whose majority are government employees, Filipino faces who work in formal sector or South Asian faces who were either from Nepal, India, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka who appeared to work in informal sector. All of them passed me with their respective activities, moving in rhythm in driving Qatar’s economy.
This terminal serves almost all bus routes, leaving or going to Doha. Each route takes 20-30 minutes to depart. The terminal operates from 4am to midnight.
The toilet is at the west end of the front, with a container box structure and you have to step through some stairs. The terminal also provides a closed space that is effective enough to warm the body while waiting for bus to depart.
Meanwhile, several Ticketing Vending Machines are provided next to the closed waiting room, so that every Karwa Bus service user can freely refill their Karwa Smartcard here.
On several terminal poles, each Karwa Bus route map is clearly listed, so it’s very helpful for passengers who don’t understand yet the entire Qatar region in finding a right bus route to each of their targeted destinations.
That’s a brief profile of Al Ghanim Bus Station which is located in the Municipality of Ad Dawhah. Interested in visiting?
Terminalnya kelihatan lumayan sepi ya, apa mmg habbit qatar masih lbh suka pakai kendaraan pribadi dibanding kendaraan umum?
Yups bener mas…mereka kaya-kaya warganya…kan pendapatan per kapita mereka tertinggi di dunia.😃😃