Traffic weary Dubai residents drive smart

Could traffic bottlenecks be a thing of the past in Dubai?

In a city where morning gridlock is only beaten by the evening rush hour traffic, the Roads and Transport Authority has stated it’s Smart Drive mobile app has emerged as the top draw with road users, resulting in one million downloads since its introduction during Gitex Technology Week last year.

The navigation app that plans your commute with live traffic updates and reroutes your journey depending on road works and accidents in the area, came ahead of the Smart Salik app with 390,000 downloads and the Wojahati with 209,000 downloads.

The numbers were revealed by Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of RTA, adding that the government authority had achieved its target of following through with the smart government deadline set by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in March last year.

Al Tayer further revealed about 173 services have been transformed into smart services offered across nine apps available via platforms of various smartphones (Android, Apple, Blackberry, and Windows).

Through these apps, “the RTA is seeking to shape Dubai into the smartest city in the world in terms of roads and transport systems”.

Following through further with the directive set for the Happiness Meter to spur government services, Al Tayer added: “In future, our apps will also be equipped with the Happiness Meter to gauge the quality of service we provide and initiate feedback from our users.”

The RTA stated Mchat and Service Feedback had emerged as the most innovative app features, along with the Mstore used to retail vehicles and plates, along with the Green Points and Score that allowed user to calculate their individual carbon footprint.

Al Tayer added that continuous enhancements and avenues to gauge reviews and social media feedback was key for the RTA smart services to move forward.

“The Smart City concept envisaged by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is for a city that attaches high priority to the welfare and convenience of residents, and the delivery of state-of-the-art services, including the smart mobility; a key pillar of smart cities,” said Al Tayer.

The RTA plans the launch of at least 200 smart services via smartphones by the end of 2015, and undertaking 22 initiatives, projects in support of Dubai’s migration into a smart city.

He continued: “The total number of services which have been transformed into smart services has reached 173 smart services spreading over three main groups: Road users (83 services), public transport users (31 services), and the business sector (59 service).

“About two million app downloads have been registered and the total number of transactions processed via smart apps is in the order of 260,000 transactions.

“More than 13 million e-tickets for parking via SMS have been issued during the period from October 2014 to March 2015, and the RTA has achieved Apps Rating in as much as 4.3 of 5.”

Last January the RTA launched a contest amongst university and college students to develop smart apps, and winners will be announced in July.

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