The RTA has announced that it is resuming services along the Al Ghubaiba – Sharjah ferry route from 4th August 2023. Continue reading Dubai-Sharjah Ferry Service Resumes
Category Archives: Dubai Ferry Routes
Ferry to World Cup Fanzone
The RTA is planning to lay on extra marine transport to take football fans to the BudX FIFA Fan Festival which is taking place in Dubai Harbour (near Dubai Marina). Continue reading Ferry to World Cup Fanzone
New Route Between Dubai and Sharjah
The RTA has introduced a new ferry route between the emirates of Dubai and Sharjah.
This is the first route between 2 emirates as all other routes are within Dubai.
The ferry service will run 42 times each day and you can find full details of the service here.
The service is a welcome addition to the commuters from Sharjah who often have to battle through traffic jams to get to Dubai.
There are also free shuttle buses running to the Sharjah terminal with the possibility of these expanding in the future as the demand grows for the service.
RTA Plan to Improve Marine Transit Services on Dubai Canal
Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has endorsed a three-phase 10-year plan to improve marine transport services on Dubai Water Canal 2020-2030. The plan envisages upgrading marine transit services on Dubai Water Canal to keep pace with the urban development on the two shores of the Canal.
“The initial phase covers a short-term plan 2019-2020, which already started in April. It includes modifying the current marine transport line on the Canal to link Jaddaf, Dubai Design District and Sheikh Zayed Road Stations. The revised line excludes Marasi Station and endorses the deployment of the Water Bus instead of Dubai Ferry to run the service. The Water Taxi service at these stations remains unchanged,” explained Mohammed Abu Bakr Al Hashimi, Director of Marine Transport at RTA’s Public Transport Agency.
“In concurrence with these changes, abra service will be running on two new lines to commute riders between the Al Wajeha Al Maeyah, Marasi and Sheikh Zayed Road Stations. By 2020, marine transit modes will be beefed up to include two water buses on the revised line, and three abras on the new line. The plan contributes to shortening the service frequency and meeting the needs of riders on these lines.
“The second phase is a Medium-Term Plan 2025. It covers the operation of nine stations in the central sector of the Canal over and above the existing stations, which will be served by five new lines. It involves modifying the current line of the Water Bus to serve two stations, namely Dubai Creek Marina Station and Business Bay Promenade Station. One Water Bus and five abras will be added in 2025 and 2026,” explained Al Hashimi.
“The Long-Term Plan 2030 covers the addition of four stations on Dubai coastal line namely Jumeirah 2, Al Safa 2, Sheikh Zayed Road 2, and Godolphin. The proposed modes here are one waterbus and two ferries that will bring the total number of water transport modes in the network to four waterbuses and ten abras by the end of the plan.
“The improvement of water transport services on the Dubai Water Canal is linked to the projected development on the shores of this vital facility. The plan has been conceived following the assessment of the current services and the listing of marine transport assets and lines. It conforms to RTA’s strategic vision of uplifting water transport network considering it a key contributor to Dubai’s profile in offering excellent passenger and tourist transport services in the Emirate,” he added.
New Tourist Route – SZR Station on Dubai Water Canal
The RTA have announced that they are starting a new circular trip starting from the Sheikh Zayed Road Marine Station on Dubai Water Canal on a trial basis.
The trip will leave Sheikh Zayed Road station and travel towards Business Bay and Festival City and then enter the Creek. It will take in quite a few of the landmarks of the area including the Burj Khalifa and Al Seef so would be a really great route for tourists to take to see a lot of the city from the water. It will exit the creek and return to SZR Marine station via the sea and Dubai Water Canal Station, thus taking a circular route.
We are endeavouring to find out the duration of the trip but by the looks of the route we believe it should take at least 90 minutes to complete.
The RTA announcement is as follows:
Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has launched a new circular marine line served by Dubai Ferry starting from Sheikh Zayed Road Station. The service, which will run on a trial base, aims to explore tourist attractions and increase the marine tourism amongst visitors, citizens and residents.
“The new line is launched as a test-run on a route starting from Sheikh Zayed Road Station on Dubai Water Canal. It passes through Burj Khalifa, Festival City, Dubai Creek, Old Souq, Al Seef, Spice Souq, La Mer (Jumeirah) and back to Sheikh Zayed Road Station. The launch of this line is part of RTA’s efforts to enhance the tourist profile of these areas, which have an attractive array of captivating urban landmarks,” said Mohammed Abu Baker Al Hashimi, Director of Marine Transport at RTA’s Public Transport Agency.
RTA has provided parking spaces for users of this service around Sheikh Zayed Road Station on Dubai Water Canal. The service is available on Thursday at 09:00 pm or 10:00 pm, and on Friday from 04:00 pm up to 10:00 pm every week.
The service is subject to demand and will be operated if there is a minimum of 21 adult riders. The fare is AED50 for silver class and AED75 for gold class. Children from age 2 to 10 years will have a 50% discount, and the journey will be free for those under the age of two. Interested riders can communicate with RTA Call Center (8009090) to know more about the journey.
“RTA is always keen on launching initiatives to boost beach tourism in Dubai, especially as Dubai has a long coastal line with huge tourist attractions. The launch of this line will support RTA’s strategic plans aimed at attracting more fans to marine tourism,” added Al Hashimi.
New Route Between Dubai Mall and Dubai Marina
Update: This route is no longer running
The RTA, in partnership with Emaar properties, has announced a new route for the ferry service that will start next week.
The route will run from Dubai Marina to Wajeha al Maeyah and then return back to Dubai Marina station.
There will be a shuttle service that will run from Wajeha al Maeyah to Dubai Mall and back so that ferry passengers have a direct route to Dubai Mall from the Marine transport station.
We are waiting to confirm when the route will start and whether it will operate one or twice a day. At present there is one sailing each way.
This means that if you want to take a return trip on this route and have time to visit Dubai Mall you will need to take the 3.15pm ferry from Dubai Marina and return at 5.15pm.
On the trip you will be able to see the iconic sights of Dubai including the Burj Khalifa and the Burj al Arab.
Alternatively you could just take a one way trip either from or to Dubai Mall or the Marina.
The cost of a ticket is Dh68.25 (inclusive of VAT) per adult and Dh52.50 for children from 5 to 12 years. Children under 5 travel free of charge.
Tickets can be bought at Marine Transport stations or from the Burj Khalifa. They are also be available to purchase from the Burj Khalifa website. You can also buy them from the guest services desks at Dubai Marina Mall or The Dubai Mall.
Ahmed Al Falasi, Executive Director of Group Operations at Emaar Properties, said: “The new ferry service is a remarkable addition that will add to the touristic attractions in the city. Following the promotion of Dubai Ferry to visitors and tourist groups touring At the Top, Burj Khalifa, we had seen a growing interest in using the ferry service. Now with this exclusive service for Emaar’s visitors, residents and tourist groups, they have the added convenience of touring of the city’s most popular lifestyle destinations.”
New Route for Dubai Ferry
New Route for and after Eid Al Fitr
We recently reported the timings for the Dubai Ferry for the holiday of Eid al Fitr 017 (you can find the details here) where an additional ferry trip was announced by the RTA.
After further investigations it appears that this new route will be active after the end of Eid Al Fitr on an ongoing basis.
Circular Route
The new route is a circular trip (ie it departs from and returns to the same station) from the Sheikh Zayed Road Marine Station which is on the Dubai Water Canal.
Duration
The trip will last an hour and there will be one ferry taking the trips between 6pm and midnight from that station.
Cost
The price for the trip is the same as the other circular trips – 50 dirhams for Silver Class tickets and 75 dirhams for Gold class tickets.
Children under 5 travel free and children over the age of 5 are charged at full adult price. Tickets can be bought from the Sheikh Zayed Road Marine Transport Station ahead of your particular trip.
The round trip will not stop at any other stations and will be a trip that gives you a 1 hour view of Dubai Water Canal.
Check out the Routes page for full details of all of the routes that Dubai Ferry runs.
Dubai Water Canal Marine Station
With the commencement of services on the Dubai Ferry in the Dubai Water Canal, there have been a number of questions and comments on this site about those services and whether they are actually running.
The Dubai Water Canal is definitely a work in progress and there is still a lot of work to be done before the whole area along the canal is finished and it looks likely that this will take some time despite the work being ongoing right now.
However, the ferry services are running as advertised. Some of the stations may not be so easy to find as they seem to be in the middle of somewhat deserted areas, and the Dubai Water Canal Station is one of those, but it is there!
In terms of the Dubai Water Canal Station, you can approach it along the Beach Road from either side as it is pretty well signposted, but it is on the Deira side of the canal so that might be the approach of choice.
Once you take the slip road towards the sea, on the right side of the bridge that crosses the canal, you need to follow a bit of a winding path through somewhat deserted roads until you come to a small parking area just in front of the marine station.
The roads do look like they are still being built and the parking area is not too busy but you will see the Dubai Canal Marine Transport Station in front of you.
The current timings of the ferry from the Dubai Water Canal Station are as per below – please note that if they are changed in future, they will be updated on the Routes/Timings page so it is probably worth checking there for up to date information.
| Ferry Direction | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| To Al Jaddaf | 12:05 | 14:05 | 19:35 |
| To Al Ghubaiba | 11:50 | 13:50 | 19:20 |
| To Dubai Marina | 11:50 | 13:50 | 19:20 |
Al Mamzar Ferry is not Running
So we went to check out the exact location of the Al Mamzar ferry, which was announced as a new route for the Dubai Ferry by the RTA in October 2014. The route was supposed to run every Thursday and Friday but as of now (November 2015), the route does not run at all due to lack of demand.
Instead you can take the water taxi or an abra ride from the Al Mamzar Marine Station which is located at Al Mamzar beach, just before the entrance to the Al Mamzar Beach Park.
It looks unlikely that the ferry will run from Al Mamzar at any time soon so you will need to take a trip from either the Marina or Al Ghubaiba at the present time.
New Maps Page Added
As many people have requested the exact location of the ferry terminals we have added a page with maps of those terminal locations.
Unfortunately Google Maps does not actually show the location of the Dubai ferry terminals so we have added screenshots of the locations themselves.
the maps we have added are only approximate but should be able to give you an idea of where the ferry terminals are and how easy they are to get to. Once you are on your way you should spot them really easily.
The ferry Marina and Al Ghubaiba ferry terminals are both very close to public transport links so are easy to access from the Metro and the Tram.
Check out the maps page here.