Transports in Amman

The Taxi

You can easily find a taxi in Amman. The prices are quite accessible. 

The taxis, here, are yellow. Some are in good condition but others old, dirty, no air-conditioning and making weird sounds.

It's frequent to see the taxi driver smoking, talking on the mobile phone and speeding while driving a client. 

They don't, normally, speak good english and if they realize you are foreign they very probably will double the price. 

There are apps that works in Amman, for calling a taxi whatever you are. 

Women should always seat in the back seat. There are exceptions when there's no room in the back and they're all women. In that case the older one will sit in the front.

Women-only taxi service
To avoid sexual harassment, there are taxis just for women, whose drivers are also women. These pink taxis.

Uber
Another option is the uber. It's much better than the taxi but more expensive. They speak english and the price ride is already estimated in the app. The payment is made through credit card in the app. 

Driving a Car

Here you can rent a car, the GPS works quite well. But driving is the challenge!

• Jordanian drivers speed; 
• Don't respect priorities; 
• Ignore road signs;
• Don't stop at pedestrian's crossings; 
• Overtakes on the left; 
• Don't keep the safety distance;
• They use the roundabouts in any imaginable way;
• Don’t signal any manoeuvres; 
• Roads have no lanes;
• Pedestrians throw themselves on the road without looking; 
• Drivers may park in the red traffic light to buy cigarettes;
• Nobody lets nobody goes first; 
• They force themselves even if they have no priority; 
• Don't wear seat belt; 
• Double parking;
• Honking all the time; 
• Trucks and vans carry load not properly secure; 
• People and children are transported in the back of open trucks; 
• Is normal to see babies and children  seated in the lap of the driver, without even seat belt;
• And all of this happens while they are smoking and talking on the phone. 

Many of these things happens in front of the police, cause is considered normal. The only thing the drivers respect is the red traffic light, but there are exceptions. 

If you add to all this, a very crowed city, with lots of traffic, this is a really scary scenario.. 

In general, drivers, here, are not civic and don't drive responsibly, neither women nor men ..

Here, I see almost accidents happening all the time ..many times I truly fear for my life.. 

The City Bus

I never took a bus but it looks like an old, dirty and tight van. There are no bus stop. Whenever you are, you sign to stop when you see a bus. It will stop the price is always 0.35JD but there is no ticket. You can make around 20km for the same price! It is really cheap!

In one hand is useful that you can catch the bus anywhere, however in other hand you never know when a bus will come. There are no bus stop or schedule, you just know that they start at 5am till 7pm.…  So, a bench for sitting while waiting safe from the rain sounds really nice and necessary. But there are none.

There are also the Bus that makes big distances. For these there are bus stop and schedule.

Other Public Transports

There is no train, or metro in Amman. That’s why there is so much traffic and there are so many taxis! 

Walking

Even if you want to walk, the sidewalks are being used for the shops, or for trees, or for cars to park. And it is in very bad condition. You can fall if you are not aware and there is so many rubbish around..It's not definitely pedestrian friendly.

To do not mention the crosswalk..I just saw one or two…So, pedestrians walk in the roads next to the cars and throw themselves to the roads to cross them, many without looking. But if a driver hits a pedestrian, he may go to jail and pay for all the victims' bills. According to the Jordanian law the driver is always guilty.

Road accident is one of the main causes of death in Jordan.