What am I doing here, travel diary of the World Cup, day 3: the Metro, the best ally to defeat the two worst enemies for a while

In this note, written from Doha, we won’t talk about the high temperatures or the twisted highways that burn and hug the city -the World Cup is starting and I’ll soon stop stealing with this-. But yes of a strategy, at least for a while, not to suffer from the heat or the traffic. Gentlemen, with you Metro. Bah, dear old stowaway. That means of transport that unequivocally refers us to our daily comings and goings within the now distant city of Buenos Aires.

However, dear reader, apart from the fact that the wagons travel underground here too, they have doors that open by themselves, seats and tubes, The experience of traveling in the Dohano Metro hardly resembles the underworld hours accumulated in all our lives.

Entering a Doha Metro station is like entering a five-star hotel. Or a four-star with pretensions. Do the escalators work? Yup. And they are smart too. Bah, they don’t know what two plus two equals, but they stop when there are no users on the tape. Do the lifts work? Yup. And people aren’t pushing each other to get in.

Do people travel stationary? Yes, standing people travel. But most travel comfortably seated on unevenly spaced corduroy seats, and there’s no crowding because cars depart every two minutes. Traveling together is not traveling to the capital of Qatar.

Is it expensive to take the Dohano subway? It costs 55 cents, the official exchange rate equal to 89 pesos, just over double that of Buenos Aires at the official market exchange rate. Because if we go to the Qatari dollar the bill would go up to around 170 pesos. Therefore, compared to the average income of a journalist, it would not be cheap to afford the luxury of traveling on this magnificent means of transport. The best part: FIFA accredited players, in addition to having the privilege of following the World Cup live, do not pay for the ticket. Not even those who have the Hayya card.

Why magnificent? Because it’s quiet, because it connects all the stadiums of this World Cup and most of the nerve centers of the city. And that so far there are only 37 stations and three subway lines.

The Red, which runs 40 kilometers, has 18 stops and connects Lusail to Al Wakra, as if from north to south. The Green, 22 kilometers long and 11 stops, which goes from Al Riffa to Al Mansoura, and the Gold, with 11 stations spread over 14 kilometers between Al Azizyah and Ras Bu Aboud. Cities don’t tell them much. But one is known as Coastal, the other is called Educational and the last one is considered Historic.

The most curious thing is that those 76 kilometers were built starting in 2009. Only then did the project get underway. They started nearly a century later in Buenos Aires and within a decade had drilled another 20 kilometers. And the blue line is still missing, which will see the light – in reality it will never see it, if not the artificial one – in 2027 with 17.5 kilometers and 14 stations that will connect, among other things, to the other airport in the city.

We insist: why magnificent? Because you arrive quickly, without heating and without having to become a slave to GPS. And it’s not reverse chauvinism.

Something bad? Sure… If we were born to criticize what belongs to others. We are already world champions in this. Lifetime. However, for sure, there are destinations that are difficult to join and many times the car is a necessary evil because it significantly shortens times and distances in a coverage that has special correspondents from one end to the other and non-stop looking for stories six hours back .

PS: I promised them I wouldn’t talk about these issues, but they are the common denominator in these lands before the ball starts rolling… Or at least until Messi and his fabulous Scaloneta arrive from Abu Dhabi.

Doha, Qatar. Special delivery.