News DeskDubai, UAE – As the year comes to a close, Zed, Dubai’s homegrown ride-hailing platform, is pulling back the curtain on how the city moved in 2025 through its own take on a year-end wrap-up. Zed’s Year in Motion 2025 brings together data-driven insights, rider behaviours, and lifestyle trends to reveal what mobility looked like across Dubai over the past year.
From record-breaking individual journeys to the city’s most active neighbourhoods, Zed’s 2025 data paints a picture of a fast-moving, diverse, and increasingly connected Dubai. One user alone clocked 572 trips in this year, while the longest journey by time stretched to 224 minutes, underscoring how ride-hailing has become deeply woven into everyday life from daily commutes to long-distance travel.
Reflecting Dubai’s multicultural fabric, 165 unique nationalities used the Zed app in 2025, reinforcing the platform’s role as a shared mobility choice for residents and visitors alike. The data also revealed that cash was the most popular payment method being used for 47% of rides, highlighting the continued importance of choice and accessibility in how people prefer to pay for everyday services.
When it came to where Dubai was headed, Business Bay emerged as the most popular drop-off destination, while Dubai Mall topped the list as the most-booked attraction, confirming the city’s ongoing love for business, leisure, and retail hubs. Meanwhile, the busiest booking day of the year fell on 30th October, while 24th March recorded the highest number of completed trips, reflecting seasonal peaks in urban movement.
Timewise, Dubai showed a clear rhythm. 6 pm stood out as the most popular time of day to book a ride, coinciding with the transition from work to social life. Late-night bookings were strongest in Dubai Marina, while Jumeirah Village Circle (JVC) recorded the highest number of early-morning bookings offering a snapshot of how different communities move at different hours.
The year also saw extremes in distance with the longest single ride covering 265 kilometres, while the shortest journey measuring just 450 metres, proving that ride-hailing in Dubai caters to everything from cross-city travel to ultra-short convenience trips. Promotional activity also played a role, with ‘ZED50’ emerging as the most-used promo code of the year incentivizing first-time riders to avail a discounted first trip when testing the app.
Commenting on the insights, Badr Al Ghurair, CEO of Zed, said “Zed’s Year in Motion 2025 offers a fascinating snapshot of how Dubai moves not just in numbers, but in habits, rhythms, and everyday behaviours. These insights reflect a city that is dynamic, diverse, and constantly on the go. As a homegrown platform, understanding these patterns allows us to continue building mobility experiences that truly serve the people of Dubai.”
Adding to this, Abhinav Patwa, Executive Vice President and Head of Zed, said “What stands out from this year’s data is how ride-hailing has evolved from a convenience to a daily essential. From early-morning routines in residential communities to late-night social hubs and long-distance journeys, these trends help us design smarter, more intuitive experiences that align with how people actually live and move in Dubai.”
As Dubai continues to grow and evolve, Zed’s Year in Motion 2025 highlights how mobility is increasingly shaped by lifestyle, community patterns, and personal routines. By translating raw data into meaningful insights, Zed reaffirms its commitment to building a people-first, locally rooted mobility platform, one that moves with the city and its people, every step of the way.
Zed is available for download on iOS and Android, offering Dubai residents a smarter, faster, and more reliable way to commute.
