The Roads and Transport Authority of Dubai (rta) sells four Nol products. Three of them are reusable e-purse cards with a chip; the fourth is a paper trip ticket. Below is what each one does, and which ones can be topped up online through this site.
The Silver card is the default. It is anonymous — there is no name or photo printed on it — and it can be picked up at any metro station ticket office, vending machine or partner outlet. The card is reusable; you load it with credit and the credit is debited per tap. It works on the metro, tram, public bus, water bus and Dubai marine network.
Silver is the card we top up most often through this service. The serial on the back is the only thing we need.
The Gold card is mechanically identical to Silver — same chip, same form factor — but it unlocks the Gold Class cabin on the metro and tram. The Gold cabin is the one with carpeted floors and leather seats; the trade-off is that the standard fare doubles inside that cabin.
You can top up a Gold card through this service the same way as a Silver. The card itself decides which cabin you can enter; we do not change anything about the fare.
The Blue card is the personalised one. It carries the holder's photograph and Emirates ID number, and it is reserved for groups eligible for a discount: senior Emiratis, registered students, and persons of determination. Because it is linked to the holder's identity, the balance can be recovered if the card is lost.
We top up Blue cards the same way as Silver and Gold. The discount fare is applied at the gate by the card itself, not by us.
The Red ticket is a paper card with a thin RFID strip glued to it. It is sold by trip pack — up to ten single-zone trips, or up to five day passes — and it expires ninety days after issue. Red exists for short-stay visitors and for the kind of one-off rider who does not want a chip card.
Red is not topped up; it is bought already loaded at the metro vending machine. Once the trips on it are spent, the ticket is thrown away. We mention it here for completeness, but we do not handle Red online — and if you have a Red ticket and the credit on it has run out, the answer is to buy a new one at the station.
Look at the colour of the card itself: silver, gold or dark blue with a face on it. The serial on the back is sixteen digits. If your card is paper and red, do not type its number — that one cannot be loaded online and the answer is the vending machine at the station.
Silver, Gold or Blue — type the 16-digit serial and choose an amount. We do the rest.