The Riyadh Metro, explained: lines, fares, hours and how to ride it

For most of its history Riyadh was a city you drove. Since December 2024 it has also been a city you can ride, and the change is bigger than the map suggests. If you live or work anywhere along King Fahd Road, arrive at the airport, or want to reach the old city without thinking about parking, the metro is now the easy answer. Here is how it works, which of the six lines you will actually use, and how to pay.

Fares, hours and figures below were checked in September 2026. The operator, Riyadh Public Transport, publishes changes on its app and its X account, and those are the final word.

The network in one paragraph

Six lines, 85 stations, 176 kilometres, all driverless, which makes it the longest fully automated metro in the world. It opened in three waves: the Blue, Yellow and Purple lines on 1 December 2024, the Red and Green on 15 December, and the Orange on 5 January 2025. It carried its hundred-millionth passenger in August 2025, less than nine months in, and its two-hundred-millionth by March 2026, with a record 17.5 million rides in November 2025 during Riyadh Season. An extension of the Red Line to the east, 8.4 kilometres and five stations, has already been contracted.

The six lines, and what each is for

The lines meet at a handful of interchanges. KAFD joins Blue, Yellow and Purple, which is why anyone living in the north ends up there. STC, in Olaya, joins Blue and Red. Qasr Al Hokm, in the old city, joins Blue and Orange. National Museum joins Blue and Green, Ministry of Education joins Red and Green, Al Hamra joins Red and Purple, and An Naseem joins Purple and Orange.

Which line you will actually use

If you work in KAFD or Digital City and live in the north, the Blue Line is your commute. From Al Sahafah it is one stop; from Olaya it is four or five, about fifteen minutes with no traffic in the equation.

If you are arriving as a visitor, take the Yellow Line from the airport to KAFD, then the Blue Line south to Olaya for the hotels and restaurants, or on to Qasr Al Hokm for Masmak Fort, the National Museum stop for the museum and Murabba Palace, and Al Batha for the old markets. That covers most of a first visit without a single taxi. Diriyah, the other essential evening, is the exception: it has no station yet, so take a Careem from KAFD.

If you live in the north-east, in Granada, Al Yarmuk, Al Hamra or near the compounds along the Eastern Ring Road, the Purple Line gets you to KAFD and the Red Line gets you across King Abdullah Road.

If you are catching the train to Dammam, the Orange Line stops at the SAR railway station.

Fares, and how to pay

Fares are flat and time-based, not distance-based, and a metro ticket is also a bus ticket. Buy a two-hour ticket and you can ride any combination of metro lines and Riyadh Bus routes for two hours, with free transfers.

Children under six travel free. To pay, tap a mada, Visa or Mastercard, or a phone wallet, at the gate on the way in and out, and the two-hour fare is charged. For passes, use the Darb app, which also holds a digital Darb card, shows live routes and sells bus tickets, or pick up a plastic Darb card at any station. The annual and student prices took effect on 1 January 2026.

Hours and frequency

Trains run from 5:30 in the morning to midnight from Saturday to Thursday, and from 10 in the morning to midnight on Fridays, when the network starts after the midday prayer. Frequency is every three to five minutes at peak and five to ten minutes off-peak. Hours are extended during Ramadan; last year the network ran until 2:30 in the morning on weekdays and 3am on Fridays.

Stations are air-conditioned, with escalators and lifts, and the trains are cool in every month. The walk from your door to the station is the part of the journey the weather touches, so in July pick a station within ten minutes of home.

First, family or singles: the three carriages

Every train has three kinds of carriage, marked on the platform and on the doors.

• Family class is for women, families and mixed couples. A woman travelling alone uses it too.
• Singles class is for men travelling alone.
• First class is for holders of first-class tickets, at two and a half times the regular fare, with wider seats and more room for luggage. Anyone may buy it.

If you are unsure which door to use, staff on the platform will point you to the right one in a second, and nobody minds being asked.

Park and ride, and the buses

Nineteen park-and-ride facilities sit beside metro and bus rapid transit stations, most holding several hundred cars. Parking is free for up to twelve hours as long as the same Darb card that paid for your parking also paid for your trip; after twelve hours it is SAR 10 an hour up to SAR 130 a day, and a car left more than 48 hours is towed. For anyone in Hittin or Al Malqa who works in the centre, driving to a Blue Line station and riding the rest is the fastest commute in the city.

Riyadh Bus fills the gaps between the lines: about 80 routes, three of them bus rapid transit corridors with their own lanes, and 58 feeder routes that run from residential districts to the nearest station. Same ticket, same app. Bicycles and e-scooters are not allowed on trains or buses.

From Al Sahafah, what the Blue Line gives you

We live at the northern end of the Blue Line, and it changed how our guests use the city. The two northern stations, SAB Bank and Dr Sulaiman Al Habib, sit along King Fahd Road at the edge of the district. From there:

For a new arrival, that means the first week runs on a SAR 4 ticket: the airport, KAFD and the supermarket before you have a licence or a car. For anyone choosing where to live, it is one more reason the north makes sense.

For more on getting around, see our practical guides to Riyadh.

Frequently asked