SALIK is working, but in a Bad Way

Living in Al Barsha and around the Greens I am subject to a daily dose of "SALIK Dodgers". These people do everything they can to avoid paying SALIK. They even seem to add 30 minutes to their commute by causing massive bottle necks in neighborhoods.

I just don't understand. I balance the SALIK use. Three days a week I use it to go to work, and I save 15-20 minutes off my commute time. Two days a week I wake-up earlier and drive the side roads. I never use it to go home as I am not in a big rush usually.

So I spend ...are you ready.....12-16 AED a week. Or about 4 US Dollars.

These drivers that dodge SALIK are not driving small cheap cars. So why can't they use the SALIK? Why can't they afford it?

I was thinking. Most high performance cars run best at speed; not in a traffic congested mess. In fact, you are often presented with two different equations when calculating the value of a used car. A high mileage car that has earned its Ks on long high-speed roads is not devalued as much a car that is used in a congested daily commute.

It makes you wonder if the 20 AED a week most people are saving by not using SALIK one-way is worth the value they are losing on their cars. Plus let us not forget that they are losing time everyday too. It is almost like they have no value on their time or for their time.

When I use SALIK I get from the parking at home (then I sit and wait 5 mins or so to cut through the river of traffic) to the parking at my work in about 8 mins. Totally worth not sitting in a river of traffic stocked full of people too cheap to spend 5 US Dollars a week --while driving 50,000 Dollar Cars.