| Kippreport.com

The award for the stupidest idea goes to…

January 18, 2011 2:22 by shafeer

Getting off the morning metro was actually more difficult today than normal. Why, you so innocently ask?

Why? Well to begin with there were an army of idiotic passengers blocking the exit who refused to let those wishing to get off at the station through. When Kipp elbowed and “Excuse-me-please”-ed our way to the front we were assaulted by the even more idiotic oncoming passengers who wished to board the train (who thought it’d be easier for them to board before others disembark).

Of course, when Kipp finally made it on to the platform (shirt ruffled, tooth missing and hair disheveled, a look only a Dubai Metro veteran can pull off) we then had to make way for the clearly very important passengers who we hope had legitimate reasons for cutting the line to the check-out machine. They were surely headed to meetings and engagements far more pressing than Kipp’s.

We don’t need to tell you that, when it comes to the Dubai public transport system, common courtesy is dead. And no, Kipp isn’t talking about the kind of courtesy that makes one give his or her seat to the elderly or to a pregnant woman – we are just talking about plain old common sense decency. For instance, letting the person in front of you check-out before you do.

And that’s why Kipp thinks the award for the stupidest idea of the year so far should definitely go to SkyRide Technology, for proposing a human powered monorail for the UAE.

Do we really need to justify our point of view on this one? Well, okay then. Perhaps some background information might help: SkyRide Technology’s Scott Olson (who is also the inventor of Rollerblades, by the way) proposes a monorail with pods which are powered by the pedaling of passengers in the capsules. SkyRide, which has a presence at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, is proposing the monorail for tourist areas in Masdar City, though The National does say the company suggests that system could be used at “university and corporate campuses and even for large-scale urban transport.”

Large scale urban transport like the Metro. Right; because somehow the same body of passengers who obnoxiously put their interests ahead of everyone else’s, the ones who will tread on your feet and elbow you in the ribs to make it to the front, can be counted on to work together to get Kipp from point A to point B?

Tags: Dubai metro, metro, skyride dubai, skyride human powered technology, skyride human powered train, SkyRide Technology, uae metro