Dubai’s biggest community of bicycle riders cries foul over rampant thefts at Dubai Dry Docks
The theft of bicycles in Dubai’s biggest community of cycle users, the Dubai Dry Docks workers, has become so common that people have come to accept it as a fact of daily life.
Around 8,000 workers of Dubai Dry Docks, the biggest community of bike users in the city, use bicycles as their main mode of travel to work and back to their camp off Jumeirah Road.
A estimated 8000 people belonging to around 60 nationalities work at the docks, one of the world’s biggest merchant ship-repair facilities that opened in 1983.
Nearly every worker uses a bicycle to travel from their camp off Jumeirah Road to the ships docked for repairs or overhaul, covering a distance of up to 3km. Each change of shift unleashes a constant flow of cycle-clad workers.
A cycle helps cut a 20 to 30-minute walk from the docks to the mess hall (workers are provided free food and accommodation) to about five minutes.
Victims report incidents to security and one worker was also reportedly sacked after being found with someone else’s bike.
However, the nicking has apparently gone unabated. “There’s not much you can do but report the incident to security,” says Edgar, a 43-year-old mechanic from Cebu, Philippines. He claims he lost two bikes in five years. “It’s impossible to trace the person who took your bike. It’s no use looking for it. You just buy a new one.”
Source: www.gulfnews.com