2,700 Sharjah taxis now offer call-a-cab service

Residents can now call for taxi services, 24 hours a day, in Sharjah as more taxis have been added to the scheme, the Sharjah Transport Corporation (STC) announced on Sunday.

The Dh30m Dispatch System was set up in January this year with 1,125 cars being fitted with a global positioning system (GPS) and a general packet radio service (GPRS) from which any vehicle nearest to the caller could be sent to pick him or her.

“We now have 2,700 cars available for this service,” said the Project Manager of Internal Vehicle Devices Mohammed Abdullah Alburaimi.

The number of cars, however, falls short of the target the STC had aimed for by August this year, which was to have all 4,500 taxis covered. It said it now hopes to achieve this by November.

Alburaimi said  the dispatch service, which costs passengers an extra Dhs5, is “more sought at night” and by “travellers with huge bags.”