Where your top-up works
We do not add a special kind of credit. We add the ordinary kind, which means it works everywhere the card does.
Transport
Getting around
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Metro
Both lines, every station, every gate. Tap in and tap out as usual — the fare is deducted from the balance you just added.
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Buses
City routes, feeder buses that connect to metro stations, and intercity coaches to the other emirates.
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Tram
Validators on the platform and at each door along the coastal route, interchanging with the metro.
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Water transport
Water buses, water taxis and the traditional abra crossings, where readers accept the same card.
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Paid parking
Meters that take nol card payment, so a topped-up card doubles as your parking wallet.
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Small purchases
Vending machines and retail outlets in and around the network that accept nol card as a payment method.
Cards
Cards we can add credit to
Compatibility comes down to one question: is there a number printed on the card? If yes, we can top it up. That includes every card type in normal circulation, whether or not it is registered to a person.
It also means you can top up a card you are not holding. Someone can read you the number over the phone and the credit goes onto their card, not yours.
- Anonymous pay-as-you-go cards from a machine or kiosk
- Registered personal cards in someone’s name
- Concession cards for students, seniors and people of determination
- Premium cards for gold-class carriages
- Visitor and short-stay cards bought on arrival
Outside our scope
Some things need to be done where the card was issued, not here:
- buying a new card or replacing a lost one
- checking the balance currently on a card
- transferring credit between two cards
- buying a monthly or seasonal travel product
- claiming a refund of unused credit from a card
Seeing the new balance
The reader tells you. Tap at a gate and the display shows the balance after the fare; tap on a bus and the validator does the same. That is the moment the credit lands on the card, so the number you see already includes it.
We deliberately do not offer a balance lookup on this site. We would have to guess at it from our own records, and a guess about your money is worse than no answer at all. The card and the reader always know better than we do.
Travelling beyond the city
Intercity coach routes that accept the card work exactly the same way, so a topped-up card gets you out of the city and back. Local transport in other emirates generally runs on its own ticketing, and a nol card is not a substitute for it.
If you are heading somewhere the card is not accepted, that is a ticketing question rather than a top-up question — the credit stays on the card until you are back somewhere it works.
Keeping enough on the card
Gates need to see enough credit to cover a journey before they let you through. Keeping at least AED 7.5 on the card is the difference between walking through and standing at a barrier working out what went wrong.
If you routinely cut it fine, top up a little more than you need. The service fee is flat, so a larger top-up is cheaper per dirham than two small ones.
Ready to top up?
Enter your card number, choose an amount and pay. The whole thing takes about ten seconds.
Top up now