Taxi Salik: Not to be charged twice per trip

Taxi rides that cross two Salik gates within half an hour will only charge the Salik fee once.

The announced Salik fee that will be added to the fare of a taxi ride will only be charged once when the taxi passes two Salik toll gates within half an hour.

"If the passenger used two gates on Skeikh Zayed Road within half an hour he will pay once and the system works in an intelligent way so that toll is automatically added  on the counter without driver intervention," confirmed Essa Al Dossary, CEO of Public Transport Agency, Road and Transport Authority (RTA) in a statement to Emirates 24|7.

This charging scheme is in line with the regular Salik fee procedure, which allows motorists to cross the two Salik toll gates within half an hour without being charged twice.

"I would not agree to pay for a taxi fare when the Salik fee is added twice, although the taxi ride took less than half an hour," said Roberto, a South African resident in Dubai.

"If a taxi driver would ask for such a payment, I would refuse to pay."

Taxi customers do not need to worry about ill-practices of cabbies, as the system automatically adds the Dh4 to the taxi charge, explained RTA earlier. (https://www.emirates247.com/news/emirates/rta-to-apply-salik-toll-on-dubai-taxis-from-january-2012-12-05-1.486071)

Previously, the Salik toll gate fee was incorporated in the taxi fare by the taxi driver, which caused customers unaware of the Salik toll gate to doubt the integrity of cabbies.

The new system will gradually be implemented from the middle of January, 2013.

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