Exploring Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) in a country which has it has become a tradition in my every trip, even though my first choice transportation is city bus. Before trying Doha Metro, I myself have trying MRT in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong, China, Japan, South Korea, India, United Arab Emirates and of course Jakarta’s MRT as a pride mass transportation mode in my capital city.
Exiting a modern shopping center “City Center Doha” in West Bay area, I retraced departure route when heading to this shopping mall, again walking through Omar Street to DECC Station. Because it’s located right next to DECC building, nearest Doha Metro station has the same name as this venue.
The exterior of DECC station building itself looks more like a mosque door than station building. Still relying on Persian-style arches with wide openings with authentic colors, desert brown.
This is Qatar’s proud rapid transit system, one of the goals of which is to welcoming World Cup 2022. The Doha Metro line which was first operated in 2019 is the red line which I was currently aiming for.
Entering station building, everything was shiny, clean and looked new. I chose stairs to go underground and looked for an automatic ticketing vending machine, even though this station provided an elevator to make access easier.
Doha Metro itself has three lines, i.e red line, green line and gold line with an average length of 76 km and a total of 37 stations. The ticket price is actually almost equivalent to Karwa Bus ticket price, which is around 2 Riyal for a single journey and 4 Riyal for a full day of travel. An advantage of Doha Metro system is the existence of a free feeder bus whivh connects station to hotel where we are staying or other places which aren’t covered by Doha Metro line. This feeder bus is known as Free Doha Metrolink Shuttle Services.
As soon as I arrived at the platform, several Filipino Doha Metro officers tried to kindly ask my final destination and directed me to wait at the right platform, even though I was used to finding the platform myself based on the instructions.
This Doha Metro train is the most modern train with a cruising speed of around 100 km/hour and has been named as the fastest driverless train in the world. By ownership, Doha Metro is 51% owned by Hamad Group, 49% is owned by a French state-owned public transport company
In 15 minutes, I was transported 5 Km by this train to Katara Station. The minimum of Doha Metro passengers made my trip almost without interaction, I couldn’t feel the hustle and bustle of Qatari citizens in their daily lives.
Get off the Doha Metro, now I would go to ground level using elevator provided.
Similar to the condition of DECC station building, Katara Station also looks brand new. The quiet traffic of city’s residents using the services of Doha Metro made the station building look empty and showed me its relief. Meanwhile, Many Southeast Asian-looking Doha Metro employees worked in every station.
I’ve arrived at Katara Cultural Village and was ready to explore. Let’s see what this cultural center of Qatar looks like!.
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