Johnny GONE lately

And so it ends...

My loyal reader (readers?) may have been wondering what happened to the intrepid Dubai Sans Auto. Was he run over by a bus? Sideswiped into a ditch by a careless Emirate driver? Finally felled by heat exhaustion? Hauled in by the RTA secret police for sedition?? No my friend (friends?), nothing so painful became of me, I merely got the f*ck out of Dodge. Well, technically Dodge booted me out, but in any case I am gone for good.

It was an interesting 10 months to say the least. I came in with grand goals and the best of intentions. I was going to not only ride Dubai, I was going to help make it a better place to cycle! I had dreams of starting up a bicycle advocacy group along the lines of New York's Transportation Alternatives; lobbying the government for better bike infrastructure and instituting safety campaigns amongst wrong way riding Indians. But beyond this blog, which I hope at least helps a little, I didn't get many of my goals accomplished.

Not to pooh pooh the blog (I surreptitiously obtained the Dubai Bicycle Master Plan for Gods Sake!); I think in the end it will provide at least a glimmer of hope for those who are thinking of commuting by bike in Dubai. I remember when I was first looking into moving to Dubai, one of the first questions I asked was, "can I ride my bike in Dubai?" It is a rather basic question, but the answers I could dig up on the internet were far from helpful. There were a couple of asinine replies to message board queries that basically said, "try it, and you'll die", and then of course there were the Roadsters (but unfortunately their rides didn't go by my office every morning). Neither informational tidbit was very useful, and thus the genesis for this blog - spreading the info that I found, sharing my experiences on the road. I wanted to let people know that it is INDEED possible to ride your bike around Dubai, that you can IN FACT live in Dubai without a car and get by just fine. I only hope that I have inspired someone, anyone, to get out of their car and onto a bike.

I am back in NYC now, where things have changed quite a bit since I left (for the better). In the last two years the city has built hundreds of miles of new bicycle infrastructure, including fully protected lanes! The number of cyclists on the road has doubled in just a few years; things are really taking off. It is frankly a relief to be back in a city where cycling is taken seriously as a form of transport. Though NYC still has a long way to go before it becomes the next Amsterdam or Copenhagen, it is definitely on its way.

Here's hoping that Dubai will go through with its plans to create a vast cycling network. I still see press releases every once in a while extolling the virtues of Dubai's Bicycle Master Plan (which I still have a copy of if anyone wants to read it), but the start date seems to be continuously pushed back. I keep thinking things might change soon, like right before I left I rode down Al Wasl Rd in Satwa and noticed they were widening the street. Al Wasl Rd happens to be a route on the bicycle master plan, designated as an on-street lane. It will be interesting to see if the widening has anything to do with the bike route, but somehow I doubt it. Just like they managed to completely rebuild the intersection of Al Wasl Rd and Al Diyafah St well over a YEAR after the BMP was issued and not include the 'planned' off street bicycle infrastructure in the new design, there seems to be no impetus to include the provisions of the BMP in on-going construction works. Whom ever is in charge of bicycle infrastructure at the RTA (if there IS anyone), certainly has zero wasta.

I've left Dubai, but my interest in the city hasn't completely waned. I plan on blogging (occasionally) from afar to keep everyone up on the latest and greatest. Me and my better half have already decided we want to come back to Dubai (on holiday) in 10 years to see what this mess of a city turns out to be. Hopefully by then we'll be able to cruise around unfettered by crazy drivers, but I'm not holding my breath.

If anyone cares to take up the reins, and continue to blog about riding in Dubai, let me know! I would be more than happy to share my miniature bully pulpit. Conditions: must ride to work frequently, and love all things non-auto (public transit, etc)! Anyone out there??

Peddle on my friends!

-Dubai Sans Auto (Sans Dubai)