Karama Bus Station Dubai: Routes & Timings

Karama Bus Station is the RTA bus terminus for Al Karama, the dense residential and shopping district in Bur Dubai famous for its markets, tailors and budget restaurants. Do not picture a terminal building: it is a small open-air terminus on 45B Street, next to Karama Medical Centre and a short walk from Karama Market, made up of numbered boarding points rather than departure halls. From here, RTA city buses run to Deira and Al Qusais, to the Abu Hail Metro station in Deira, and out to Dubai Silicon Oasis — and the E304 intercity bus to Sharjah calls here on its way through Karama.

Karama sits between two Metro stations but has none of its own inside the district, which is why this little terminus matters so much to the people who live and work here. This guide covers the routes that use the station, the general timings picture, the nearest Metro station and how to reach it, and the practical details — Nol payment, the numbered boarding points, and why several websites give this station routes it does not have.

Karama Bus Station Quick Facts

Detail	Information
Location	45B Street, Al Karama, Bur Dubai — next to Karama Medical Centre, near Karama Market and Karama Centre
Operator	RTA Dubai (Roads and Transport Authority)
Station style	Small open-air terminus with numbered boarding points (RTA stop names run “Karama Bus Station 1, 2, 3, 5…”) — no terminal building
Routes based here	33 (Al Qusais), C3 (Abu Hail Metro), X25 (Dubai Silicon Oasis) per current RTA route listings
Intercity bus	E304 (Satwa ↔ Sharjah Al Jubail) calls at Karama on its route — it does not start here
Nearest Metro	ADCB Metro Station, Red Line — roughly an 8-minute walk. BurJuman (Red + Green Lines) is the next option, further away
Payment	Nol card only — tap in when you board, tap out when you leave. No cash on any RTA bus
Service hours	Most routes run from early morning (around 5am) to around midnight; check your route in the S’hail app

Routes from Karama Bus Station

City Routes Based at Karama

Three RTA routes are tied to this terminus in the current route listings. They cover Karama’s three everyday journeys: across the Creek side to Deira and Al Qusais, up to the Green Line at Abu Hail, and out Sheikh Zayed Road’s parallel corridor to Silicon Oasis.

Route	Destination	Good for
33	Al Qusais Bus Station	The Deira crossing — via BurJuman and Deira towards Al Qusais; one of the station’s busiest services
C3	Abu Hail Metro Bus Stop	The Green Line link — a short hop to Abu Hail Metro station in Deira (shown as C03 in some listings)
X25	Dubai Silicon Oasis	The express out to Silicon Oasis, for its tech park, offices and residential clusters

More RTA routes call at the stops at and around the terminus rather than starting here. The C5 runs between Gold Souq Bus Station in Deira and Al Ghubaiba Bus Station in Bur Dubai and passes through Karama, and the 83 (Al Ghubaiba towards Al Quoz and Al Fardan Exchange) also serves the area. Between the terminus routes and these passing services, most of old Dubai — BurJuman, Deira, Al Ghubaiba, Satwa — is one direct bus ride from Karama. Because RTA adjusts routings from time to time, confirm your exact route and boarding point in the S’hail app on the day you travel.

Intercity: E304 to Sharjah Calls at Karama

The E304 is the one intercity bus Karama residents can board in their own district — but be clear about what it is: a passing service, not a station departure. The E304 starts at Satwa Bus Station, runs via Al Karama and Grand Hyatt Hotel, then crosses Ittihad Road and Al Wahda Road to Al Jubail Bus Station in Sharjah. Buses run roughly every 30 minutes through the day (from Satwa from 6:00am on most days, 7:00am on Fridays, until about 10:10pm) and the fare is AED 12 by Nol card. Full stops and the day-by-day timetable are in our E304 bus route guide, and every Sharjah option is compared in the Dubai to Sharjah bus guide.

A warning, because several Karama guides get this wrong: no other intercity bus leaves from Karama. There is no E100 to Abu Dhabi, no E201 to Al Ain, no E700 to Fujairah and no E306 or E307 to Sharjah from this station — those services start at Al Ghubaiba, Union Square or Deira City Centre. From Karama, ride the 33 or C5 to Al Ghubaiba or the C3 towards Deira and change there.

Karama Bus Station Timings

There is no single station timetable — every route keeps its own schedule — but the pattern is the usual RTA one. The first buses through Karama leave from around 5am, services are at their most frequent in the morning and evening peaks, and the last buses run to around midnight. The X25 to Silicon Oasis is a commuter-shaped service, so expect its best frequencies at the start and end of the working day rather than in the middle of it. The E304 to Sharjah keeps a shorter day, roughly 6:00am to 10:10pm from Satwa. For live departures on any route, check RTA’s S’hail app rather than relying on any printed list — timings change on public holidays and during Ramadan.

How to Reach Karama Bus Station

By Metro, Then a Short Walk

The nearest Metro station is ADCB, on the Red Line, at the Sheikh Zayed Road end of Karama — roughly an 8-minute walk from the terminus. That is a comfortable walk in winter and a hot one at midday in summer, so in the warmer months many people simply stay on a bus instead. The alternative is BurJuman, the Red and Green Line interchange on the other side of the district near BurJuman mall: it is further from the terminus than ADCB, but it is the better choice if you are coming from the Green Line side (Deira, the airport corridor), because changing at BurJuman avoids a second change at Union or a long Red Line ride around. From either station, the same Nol card covers your onward bus — there is no separate ticket to buy.

By Taxi or Car

Taxis know the station as “Karama Bus Station” or by its landmarks — Karama Medical Centre and Karama Market on 45B Street. By car, approach via Kuwait Street or Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Street, but be warned: Karama’s streets are some of the most congested in Bur Dubai, with traffic crawling around the market and Karama Centre for much of the day, and kerbside parking near the terminus is limited and keenly fought over. If someone is dropping you off, have them do it on a side street rather than stopping on 45B Street itself.

Facilities and Tickets

Set expectations correctly: Karama is a working street terminus, not a terminal building. There is no waiting hall, no ticket office and no departure concourse — buses use numbered boarding points, which is why RTA stop names here read “Karama Bus Station 1”, “Karama Bus Station 2”, “Karama Bus Station 3”, “Karama Bus Station 5” and so on. Check which numbered point your route uses in the S’hail app before you arrive, and wait at that point: at busy times several routes load at once from different points, and a Karama departure will not wait while you run between them.

Payment is by Nol card only on every bus from the station — the city routes charge RTA’s standard zone fares (AED 3 within one zone, AED 5 across two zones and AED 7.50 across three or more), and the reader shows the fare when you tap out. The E304 to Sharjah is a flat AED 12. There is no Metro station at the terminus itself to rescue a low balance, so top up before you come: at ADCB or BurJuman Metro station, online, or in the Nol Pay app. If you are starting your Dubai trip here, buy your Nol card at the airport or a Metro station first.

What the station lacks in facilities, the district makes up for outside it. Karama Market, Karama Centre and the Lulu Hypermarket are all within a few minutes’ walk, and the streets around 45B Street are lined with the cafeterias, budget South Asian restaurants, textile and tailoring shops and small supermarkets Karama is famous for — this is one of the cheapest and liveliest places in Dubai to eat or shop before or after a trip. Zabeel Park and the Dubai Frame are also close by, on the Al Jafiliya side of the district.

Travel Tips for Karama Bus Station

• Find your numbered point first: Routes here board from different numbered points, not one shared bay. Confirm your route’s point in S’hail and wait there — a few metres can be the difference between catching your bus and watching it leave.
• Do not wait for an intercity bus that never comes: Only the E304 (to Sharjah) calls at Karama. For Abu Dhabi, Al Ain or Fujairah, take the 33 or C5 to Al Ghubaiba first — guides claiming direct intercity buses from Karama are wrong.
• Beat the market traffic: Kuwait Street and the roads around Karama Market crawl in the evening peak and on weekend evenings. Buses sit in the same traffic, so if your timing matters, ride the Red Line from ADCB for the cross-town leg instead.
• Use the C3 for the Green Line: The C3 to Abu Hail Metro is the quickest way from Karama onto the Green Line for Deira, the airport side and Sharjah-bound E307A connections — usually faster than walking to BurJuman.
• Friday E304 trap: The first E304 leaves Satwa at 7:00am on Fridays, an hour later than other days, so it reaches Karama later too. Friday-morning trips to Sharjah need planning around it — or the 33 to Union Square for the E303 instead.
• Top up the night before: A Silver Nol card with enough balance for the fare plus your onward ride removes the only real stress at this station. The Nol Pay app makes it a two-minute job.

Related Routes

• Satwa Bus Station — routes, timings & nearest Metro
• E304 Bus — Satwa to Sharjah Al Jubail
• Dubai to Sharjah Bus — all routes compared

Frequently Asked Questions

Daniyal Sheikh

Transport Editor, UAE Travel Hub

Dubai daily commuter covering the Metro, Nol cards, RTA buses and intercity routes across all seven emirates — every fare and timing checked against official RTA, ITC and SRTA sources.