New metro cuts through Saudi social divisions

For decades, civil servant Zayed al-Ghamdi’s social circles in Saudi Arabia were more than predictable, bound by routine and kinship in a country where societal divisions have rarely been challenged. Then came the metro.

A decade after breaking ground, Riyadh’s gleaming new metro opened in December, offering the capital’s eight million residents an alternative to roads chronically clogged by its two million cars.

A quicker commute is not the only difference: for the first time, the wealthy are…