Taxis in Abu Dhabi to operate in two shifts

Abu Dhabi: The number of taxis available in the city will improve considerably from early next year when drivers adopt two shifts, according to a senior official.

"There is demand for taxis in the city from 7am till 1 to 2am, so the taxi drivers will start working in two shifts of 12 hours each," Abdullah Sultan Al Sabbagh, General Manager of TransAD, the taxi regulatory authority, told Gulf News.

"This means a taxi will be worked almost 24 hours by two drivers. At the moment, drivers work in one shift only, because not enough drivers were available till recently."

The two shifts will be implemented in phases and all taxis will follow them when the seven taxi companies introduce all the taxis allocated to them, he said.

According to the earlier plan, each franchisee or company had to introduce 1,021 taxis to bring the total number of silver taxis up to 7,147.

Lack of drivers

"But due to the lack of qualified drivers there was a delay in introducing new taxis and only one franchisee was able to phase in close to 1,000 taxis," the official said.

Any franchisee who fills the quota will need two shifts, Al Sabagh said. "So, some of them can start it in the first quarter of 2010."

He said franchisees will be recruiting more drivers to fulfil the plan. "First, it will be introduced in Abu Dhabi city and will extend to other parts of the emirate as per the demand. We are studying the situation," the official explained.

Passengers said such a move is timely as the availability of taxis is very poor in the city. "You have to wait at least half an hour to get a taxi until 8.30am; you may get it within 15 to 20 minutes after 10.30 to 11am, but after 7pm it is very difficult," Johnia Mathew, an Indian homemaker, said.

The official also said small cars among the silver taxis in the emirate will disappear from the streets within two years.

TransAD stopped renewing the taxi permits of the small cars early this year following the unification of taxi fares of all silver taxis, he said. According to the official about 1,380 small taxis — 30 per cent of silver taxis — of popular Japanese-made cars are currently operating on the streets.

"They all will be phased out gradually and the luxury cars will remain in the fleet," Al Sabagh said.

Have you faced any trouble with the Abu Dhabi taxi service? What more could be done to improve the service?