Was there a little over 1 year ago and used a red DAY ticket (valid on all-metro/tram/bus, but NOT the long distance outoftown busroutes, till close of service, not 24 hrs), which is just like here in NL a disposable throw-away chipticket. I seem to recall (but not sure) that it was re-usable for ONLY the very same ticket for 2 or 3 more times. Can -of coruse-its a brand new and wholly automatic world-standard system- be bought from machine, incl. airport, with cash or cred-cd and even from a manual window. This is likely the very best bet for the normal tourist and certainly the line-bashers. You MUST get out and return back in at any metro end if you ride the full line, as there is still the max. permitted journey time in any trip.
Later I stayed-much lower hotelprices, in nearby Sharjah and that was a drag-you have to buy an oyster-style card SILVER (gold is only for locals with local bank-accounts for automatic payments, though the metro also has 1st cl. named GOLD), top up-can do that only in 10 AED steps and even then have a high min. amount on it for short trips-no info whatsoever on refunds or how long it remains valid. Even worse as we have here in NL.
That monorail is private and serves that 7** hotel, as I recall-its hidden in some parking building and has high fares the shriek off badly clad and unbehaved tourists from it (at least one gets that impression).
For such routine standard questions better go to a well-known site like tripadvisor/forum-the answer and details are likely already in FAQ or so often asked that you see it right away.
Metro does NOT run before 13.00 on FRIdays (the local day of worship), buses do.
