Transportation in Amman
Five ways to move around the city, what each one is actually good for, and the Arabic that makes a taxi ride go smoothly. Written for students who have just arrived and have to get somewhere tomorrow morning.
Start here: which one do you need?
Amman gives you more options than most cities its size. The right one depends less on price than on whether you know where you are going.
The five options
Careem and Uber both operate in Amman, alongside local apps. You drop a pin instead of describing a location, you see the fare before you accept, and there is a record of the trip.
This is what we recommend for your first weeks, and for late nights. Set them up before you land — both need a phone number and a card.
Everywhere, and no app needed — raise your hand at the kerb. Cheap and quick for direct trips across the city.
One rule: make sure the meter is on. Say it as you get in, not halfway through the journey. Drivers who intend to use it will not mind being asked, and the ones who mind are the reason you asked.
Shared taxis running fixed routes, picking up and dropping off along the way. You pay a set fare for the route rather than for the trip, so they cost far less than a private taxi.
Common in old Amman and downtown, each route leaving from its own stand. Worth learning once you have a journey you make regularly — ask a neighbour which stand serves your direction, since the routes are local knowledge rather than published information.
Small white minibuses connecting neighbourhoods across the city. The cheapest way to move, and the most local — but the routes take time to learn and are rarely signposted in English.
Best approached after a few weeks here, when you can read the destination on the windscreen and ask the driver where he is going.
The city's modern network, with the BRT running on dedicated lanes along the main corridors — which means it moves while everything else is stuck.
If you make the same journey every day along a major route, this is the option that will save you the most money over a term.
Getting to the school
Misbah Center is in Jabal Al-Weibdeh, on Al-Shariaah College Street. Most drivers know the neighbourhood immediately — it is one of the oldest hills in the city — so naming Jabal Al-Weibdeh is usually enough to get you close.
Amman is organised around numbered circles, and locals navigate by them. If a driver looks unsure of an address, naming the nearest circle or a known landmark works better than a street name. For Weibdeh, Paris Square is the reference point everyone knows.
Coming from the airport: Queen Alia International is about half an hour outside the city, and there is an airport bus as well as taxis and apps at arrivals. Agree the fare or use the meter before you set off.
A few things worth knowing
Buses generally do not run on Fridays. Friday mornings are the quietest hours of the week in Amman, and the public network reflects that. Plan around it.
Carry small notes. Taxis, service taxis and coasters often cannot change a large one, and this is the most common small friction newcomers run into.
Fares and routes change. We have deliberately not printed prices here, because a page with last year's numbers is worse than a page with none. Check the app, or ask us — we take these journeys every day.
Living in Amman: the practical guides
The questions our students ask most often before they arrive.
The taxi is a lesson too
Three sentences and a driver who does not speak English is fifteen minutes of real practice. That is the whole idea behind how we teach: spoken Levantine first, used in the city the same day you learn it. Every new student is welcome to a free trial lesson.