EXPLORE SAUDI

The Riyadh Metro: Six Lines, 85 Stations and What They Are Actually Good For

By Explore Saudi Team · Published · 7 min

Riyadh Metro runs six lines, 85 stations and 176 km. A two-hour standard ticket costs SAR 4. Lines, fares, the Darb app and what it is useful for.

Key Takeaways

  • The network spans 176 km across six lines and 85 stations, including four main stations
  • Opening was phased: Blue, Yellow and Purple on 1 December 2024, Red and Green on 15 December 2024, Orange on 5 January 2025
  • A two-hour standard ticket is SAR 4; first class is SAR 10 for the same two hours
  • Children aged six and under travel free
  • The Yellow Line serves King Khalid International Airport, which makes the arrival into the city a train ride rather than a fare negotiation

Riyadh built a 176 km metro with six lines and 85 stations, and brought the whole thing into service inside thirteen months. For a visitor this changes one specific thing: a short stay in Riyadh no longer has to be organised around a car.

King Salman inaugurated the network on 27 November 2024. Network figures - 176 km, six lines, 85 stations, a stated daily capacity of 3.6 million passengers - come from the Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC), the network's builder and the authority for its technical specifications (retrieved 29 August 2026).

The six lines

  • Line 1 - Blue. Al Olaya to Al Batha, the north-south spine through the centre.
  • Line 2 - Red. King Abdullah Road, running east-west.
  • Line 3 - Orange. Al Madinah Al Munawwarah Road.
  • Line 4 - Yellow. King Khalid International Airport Road - this is the airport line.
  • Line 5 - Green. King Abdulaziz Road.
  • Line 6 - Purple. Abdulrahman bin Aauf Street to Sheikh Hassan bin Hussain bin Ali Road.

They opened in phases: the Red and Green lines opened to passengers on Sunday 15 December 2024, confirmed on RCRC's own announcement. Blue, Yellow and Purple are widely reported as the first lines open from 1 December 2024, and Orange as completing the network on 5 January 2025; those two dates are consistent across independent reports but we could not confirm them on an RCRC or Saudi Press Agency page directly, so treat them as well-corroborated rather than primary-sourced.

Fares

The fare is flat and time-based, not distance-based - RCRC states it starts from SAR 4 for two hours from first check-in, with children aged six and under free and a 50% discount for eligible groups. That baseline is confirmed directly on RCRC's project page.

The fuller fare table below is not on that RCRC page. It comes from two independent reports of the January 2026 fare update that agree with each other on every line - one published 25 December 2025 ahead of the change, one published 5 January 2026 citing the Riyadh Public Transport Authority:

  • Two-hour ticket, standard class: SAR 4
  • Two-hour ticket, first class: SAR 10
  • Annual pass, standard: SAR 1,260 · first class: SAR 3,150
  • Student semester pass (four months): SAR 260
  • Three-day, seven-day and thirty-day passes are also sold

A note on where these numbers come from, because it matters. The operator's own fare pages (rpt.sa and rcrc.gov.sa) refused our requests when we checked on 29 August 2026, beyond the SAR 4 baseline quoted above. We have flagged the rest rather than presenting a secondary source as a primary one. Check the Darb app before you buy a multi-day pass.

How to pay

Two routes: the Darb app or Darb card, or the ticket machines in the stations - both confirmed on RCRC's own project page. There is a unified call centre on 19933. Set the app up before you need it - the pattern here is the same one that catches people at festival gates and airport counters, which is that account creation always takes longer than you budgeted. If you are weighing up cards against cash more generally, our guide to paying by cash or card in Saudi Arabia covers how the rest of the country works.

What it is genuinely good for - and what it is not

Good for: the airport run on the Yellow Line, which turns the single most annoying part of arriving into a train ride. Good for moving along the central corridors during the hours when Riyadh traffic makes a five-kilometre trip a thirty-minute one. Good, quietly, for cost: at SAR 4 for two hours, a day of city sightseeing costs less than one short ride-hail.

Not a complete answer: Riyadh is enormous and low-rise, and six lines cannot reach a city shaped like that. Anything meaningfully off the network is still a car journey - which in practice means Uber or Careem. Plan the metro as the backbone of a day, not as the whole skeleton. Our full Riyadh city guide covers what each line actually reaches - Olaya, Diriyah, KAFD and the rest - and how to combine it with the neighbourhoods worth the walk.

One correction we keep having to make, because it circulates in travel content: there is no "Haia app" for taxis in Saudi Arabia. The ride-hailing apps people actually use are Uber and Careem.

Using it on a short stay

For a two- or three-day visit, the metro plus a handful of ride-hail trips covers everything most people come for. Our 48 hours in Riyadh itinerary works on that assumption, and the wider Riyadh travel guide covers the districts each line reaches. If you are coming for Soundstorm in December, use the metro for the city days and follow the organiser's own travel information for the festival site itself - and see our Saudi Arabia in December hub for how the metro fits a wider Q4 trip.

For getting between Saudi cities rather than around this one, see transport in Saudi Arabia.

The short version

Six lines, 85 stations, 176 km, all running since January 2025, inaugurated 27 November 2024. SAR 4 buys two hours. The Yellow Line goes to the airport. Get the Darb app before you land, and keep a ride-hailing app for everything the network does not reach.

Sources and Verification

This guide was last checked on 29 August 2026 against the official source below. Fares beyond the confirmed SAR 4 baseline are corroborated across two independent secondary reports, not confirmed directly on the operator's own fare page - see the note above.

Reviewed by the Explore Saudi Editorial Team, 29 August 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does the Riyadh Metro cost?
A two-hour standard-class ticket costs SAR 4, and the same two hours in first class costs SAR 10. Multi-day and annual passes also exist, and children aged six and under travel free.
How many lines does the Riyadh Metro have?
Six lines, 85 stations and 176 km of network, including four main stations. All six lines have been in service since January 2025.
Does the metro go to the airport?
Yes. The Yellow Line, Line 4, runs along King Khalid International Airport Road and serves the airport.
How do I buy a ticket?
Through the Darb app or from the ticket machines in the stations. There is also a unified call centre on 19933.
Is the metro enough to get around Riyadh without a car?
For the central corridors and the airport, largely yes. Riyadh is a very spread-out city, so for destinations away from the six lines you will still want a ride-hailing app such as Uber or Careem.