Souk Weekly · Tools
The price of the drive.
Fuel, Salik and parking add up quietly. Put a number on your Dubai commute — then decide whether the metro is quietly winning.
Monthly commute cost
AED 473
AED 5,676 a year · 1,100 km/month
- Fuel
- AED 297
- Salik
- AED 176
- Parking
- AED 0
Estimate only. Salik runs dynamic pricing (around AED 4 off-peak and AED 6 at peak, with a daily cap), so set the rate to match your route and timing. Excludes insurance, registration, depreciation and maintenance — this is the running cost of getting to work, not the full cost of the car.
Commute questions, answered
- How much does Salik cost in Dubai?
- Salik uses dynamic pricing: roughly AED 4 per gate crossing during off-peak hours and AED 6 at peak, with a daily cap. Your monthly toll bill is the number of gates you cross each day multiplied by the rate and your commute days.
- What does a Dubai commute really cost per month?
- Add three things: fuel (distance × fuel economy × fuel price), Salik tolls (crossings × rate × days) and parking. For a typical 25 km each-way drive most people land in the few-hundred-dirhams-per-month range before insurance and maintenance.
- Is it cheaper to take the metro than drive in Dubai?
- Often, yes — for a single commuter on a Nol pass the metro usually undercuts fuel-plus-Salik-plus-parking, especially on tolled routes with paid parking. Run your own numbers here, then compare against a monthly Nol pass.