How long does it take you to get to work? What about the time taken to get home, or to the school, or supermarket? If you are going by car then I bet, it takes a lot longer now than it used to a few years ago.
Over the last decade there have been many great road improvements, tunnels, flyovers, bridges and even new roads and, when they open, they do make a difference for a while. Inevitably though, more and more cars are registered onto the roads … and they all fill up again.
When I arrived in Bahrain in 1992 the population was around 600,000 and there were about 100,000 cars on the road, so about 1 car for every 6 persons.
I purchased a new one, a Mercury Topaz for BD4,500, and a lovely car it was too. It was a joy to drive around the island even with no tunnels and flyovers, just good old-fashioned roundabouts. I remember it would take me about 15 minutes to drive from Mahooz to Awali even during the middle of the day.
So, what happened?
Today, the population of Bahrain is close to 1.6 million and the number of cars on the road is near 750,000, that is just under 1 car for every 2 people on the island.
Let me put this in perspective, the increase in cars on the road in the last 30 years has meant that for each and every day of these 30 years another 60 cars have appeared on the roads in Bahrain.
How on earth have we managed this?
Not only is the island very small, it is only about 17km wide and although it is 50km long, we only live in the top 18km. There is a very good bus service, since Uber arrived taxis are very cheap, a huge chunk of the population are lower paid workers who cannot afford a car and they do use the public transport. So, who is in all these cars on the road?
Mummy has a car, Daddy has a car, and the kids have a car and a driver until they are old enough then they all get a car each.
The price of cars has come down dramatically. As I mentioned earlier, the car I bought in 1992 was the equivalent of about eight or nine months’ average salary. Thirty years later you can still buy new cars for BD5,000 which is now the equivalent of about five or six months’ salary.
Where is it all going to end?
One day we are going to go to work and the whole country will be in gridlock. A small fender-bender – or broken down car near the Grand Mosque or Adhari Park – and Ahmed and Jamilla are going to be very late for work.
Public transport is not the answer because we will not walk from the bus or train stop to our home or office, especially in the hot months. However, I have just noticed that the Ministry of Transportation has just signed an agreement with an aerospace company to provide electric drone-type taxis in the kingdom.
Can’t wait, it might be able to get me to the golf course on time.
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