Seven in the morning is the start of the federal working day, or near enough — government offices open at 7:30 am, so seven o'clock is when the commute has to be under way. On the routes between Sharjah, Ajman and Dubai it is already too late for a comfortable journey.
On a Friday the picture inverts. The short working day means everything finishes at midday, so a seven o'clock start on a Friday is a start that ends five hours later, and the roads are noticeably lighter for it.
At the weekend the same hour is the quietest usable part of the morning: the shops are shut, the traffic has not begun, and in the cooler months it is the pleasantest temperature of the whole day. A countdown to 7 am is about the working week nine times out of ten and about a run or a ride the tenth. It resets daily.
Common questions
When do government offices open?
At 7:30 am on a normal working day, which is why the commute has to be under way by seven.
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