No Dubai taxi shortage at peak times? RTA reviews timings

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is reviewing a change in the shift hours for its taxi fleet after complaints from the public highlighted a scarcity of cabs during peak hours.

The Public Transport Authority (PTA) of the RTA said that the organisation was taking into account such complaints after members of the public highlighted the growing inability to flag down taxis during peak hours, forcing them to wait for long durations because it usually coincided with the 12-hour shift change and cabs refused to take on a new fare at the time.

Dr Yousuf Al Ali, CEO of PTA, said: “We have put a plan in place whereby every company will select a shift change different from other corresponding taxi companies to reduce complains.

“We are also reviewing the plan to ensure taxis don’t change their 12-hour shifts at just one time.”

He added that peak hours have been highlighted, from 8am-10am and from 5pm-8pm on work days and a third slot of 10pm-midnight on weekends.

Last month, Dubai Taxi Corporation also released an additional 295 Hala Taxis to its existing fleet of 155 bringing its total number to 4,249 taxis.

The total number of taxis on Dubai roads is 9,447, with the PTA revealing that a study is underway to add more taxis to the overall fleet by next year to meet customer demand.

“The Hala Taxi project has proved successful since its initial roll out, with our total number of accepted job going from 110,687 in December 2013 to 467,021 in May 2014, thus increasing by 6 per cent from last year’s 74 per cent,” said Dr Ali.

“The total number of complaints over the first five months of last year totalled 1,357, which have dropped to 518 in 2014, with a significant drop of nearly 62 per cent,” he added.

Hala Taxis are distinguished by their black and grey colours and the service is available 24-hours.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.