I personally got tired of their pessimistic views. Either you know about the subject at hand and give us valuable additional information or shut up.

بالعربي اكرمنا بسكوتك

personaly i would use the Metro under the following conditions :

1. the only food or drink allowed on the trains is water ( like in Washington DC ) and that the rule is fully enforced . and no chewing gum
2. There are dedicated metro police on the trains and in the stations.
3. That there is ample parking and I wont need to walk more than 100 Meters in non A/C area’s .
3. If i dont smell hair that hasnt been washed in a month except with coconut oil or stank dragon breath or ASS/PIT stench .

@Salbader: Yes, the Government is seriously considering this. It will not affect the sewage and electrical infrastructure (mostly) as the underground track goes a lot deeper than that. We are already reinstalling a nationwide fiber-optic system, so why find fault with a nationwide underground train system?

@mocman: Well, Dubai has several advantages to Kuwait with regards to the Metro. Most importantly, they have an exponentially higher growth rate with regards to tourism and expatriate populations. They use the metro more, and there are more of them in Dubai; so the demand for a Metro is greater in Dubai. Also, Dubai as a city is two generations younger than Kuwait. The urban planning was probably designed in a way to fully incorporate an above ground Metro system; which would explain why in Deira (the only underground part in their system) feels so out of place. Kuwait has a lot more problems to solve, and in some ways, it makes less sense to implement the project here than it was in Dubai.

This project is not a pipe dream. There is quite a large possibility that it will get built, especially if Dubai Metro succeeds in lowering traffic and proves profitable.

@BlackBarook : Yes. “In January 2009, the project was delayed for about 18 months since the government of Kuwait is conducting a study of the transportation networks in Kuwait (this country-wide study will be done by the consortium of Atkins, Parsons Brinckerhoff, and Gulf Consult). In 2011, the ITB for the construction contracts is expected to be issued. The completion of the project is expected in 2016 (The original completion date was in 2014).” It was delayed, but it was not scrapped. The original initiative was taken by the Kuwait Overland Transport Union. Their proposal has now been incorporated into the Government transportation master-plan. this is a good development. In my opinion, the viability of this project works only if the government budget surplus is exploding. Right now, this is not the case. In a few years, when the world economy recovers and oil price goes back to the +$100, then it becomes far more feasible to build the metro (because Kuwait will expanding again, and more money to build the Metro).

@ABDULLAH: No one will walk in the sunshine. Most of the stations are in dense urban cores or underground. You won’t be expected to walk from your suburban house to the station. You will drive to a Park and Ride depot, park your car there, get on a train and go to work.

@KTDP: That’ a very unjustified assumption. What’s a ‘squatters place’? Do you mean abandoned or neglected spaces? What would make this so?

@hilaliya: I don’t know what makes you assume that people would walk to these stations. Look at the map. All of the stations around suburban areas are located in large urban nodes that would have multi-story parking and services (restaurants, cafes, etc). The urban stations are in areas where people already walk. People already walk in Hawalli, Salmiya, the Rai area and Shuwaikh. People use cars not because its hot, but because it is the only transportation option for non-pedestrians. Also, buying cheap cars isn’t the reason why we have terrible traffic jams. It’s because petrol is so cheap.

@cajie: You are absolutely right. There are a lot of simple, easily implemented and effective solutions such as stricter parking fines and higher rates when demand is great. Of course, the optimum solution would be a congestion charge similar to the one implemented in London for everything within the fifth ring road.

@Mark: These minor tweaks would help a little, but major traffic reform is required to finally help solve the problem:

-Abolishing the petrol subsidy to encourage efficiency
-Smart congestion charging
-Vastly increased vertical parking density
-Planning more mixed use zones (so you don’t get business districts that are evacuated after work hours, and you don’t get the daily traffic migration)
-Transportation options (Buses, Kuwait Metro, Pedestrian routes, Bicycle lanes)

Many of these initiatives are being implemented by Dubai in preparation for the opening of their Metro, to provide added incentive for its use.

@the cynics: We can’t just complain and dismiss every project that sounds too big or too good to be true. If we all did that, we’ll end up creating a self-fulfilling prophecy for failure. This attitude helps no one and deepens the negative spiral this country finds itself in. Be positive.

-Barrak from http://rekuwait.wordpress.com