Travel
Travel in and around Fujairah and the surrounding towns of Khor Kalba, Khor Fakkan, Kalba and Masafi has been made easy by the development of modern highways over the last 30 years, since gaining independence in 1971. Highways are funded by the federal government directly, and contracts are tendered centrally. This is meant to safeguard the quality and delivery of the contracts and prevent corruption from damaging the construction. Highways are vital due to the unavailability of any other means of transport. There are some buses in Fujairah but not for travel; they are for schools, colleges and some companies or they come from other cities. There are no railways yet in Fujairah, though in 2008 a railway network connecting all Arab states of the Persian Gulf. The car and the truck are the main mode of transport. Most daily activities can become impractical, if not impossible, without a private vehicle.
Newcomers and tourists can use the taxi system, which operates all day and night. There is no central booking system for private companies, but the government is planning to apply one. Taxis are hailed by standing at the roadside and flagging one down. Fares within the city are fixed at AED 4 per journey, which equates to one dollar and nine cents(US$), 50 pence (GBP) or 78 Euro cents. Destinations which are slightly outside the main city, such as the Beach Motel, Fujairah Hospital and the Jail attract a higher fare of 6 AED.
As of 2007 all taxis are metered, uniform in color (mostly yellow with green stripes) and report to a head company known as Cars. The meter starts from a minimum of 3 AED. A ride cost an average of 6 AED. The new Sheikh Khalifa highway linking Dubai and Fujairah was officially inaugurated on Saturday, following delays to the originally scheduled opening date of July 2011. It is a road that shortens distance by 20 to 30 km. The Fujairah International Airport is near the city, with a large falcon statue at the airport roundabout.
Read more about this topic: Fujairah
Famous quotes containing the word travel:
“I am reminded by my journey how exceedingly new this country still is. You have only to travel for a few days into the interior and back parts even of many of the old States, to come to that very America which the Northmen, and Cabot, and Gosnold, and Smith, and Raleigh visited.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I travel light; as light,
That is, as a man can travel who will
Still carry his body around because
Of its sentimental value.”
—Christopher Fry (b. 1907)
“So as to comprehend that the sky is blue everywhere one doesn’t need to travel around the world.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)