Sharjah reports drop in illegal transport operators

Sharjah: The transport authority of Sharjah on Wednesday said that illegal passenger transportation is on the decline as a result of efforts to improve public transport.

According to the quarterly report of Sharjah Transport, 526 illegal passenger services were fined from early January until the end of March, indicating a 30.4 per cent drop as compared to 2010, when 986 violators were fined.

"We have been carrying out a year-long awareness campaign to educate passengers on the peril of using illegal passenger transportation, and have also increased the number of taxis and buses within the city and the emirate," said Mohammad Al Abdullah Al Buraimi, head of the fines department at Sharjah Transport.

Last week, Sharjah Transport approved the addition of 700 vehicles to its taxi fleet by August at a cost of Dh47 million. The Sharjah Transport taxi fleet will then go up from 450 to 1,150 vehicles, which will in turn increase the total number of taxis in the city from 4,914 to 5,614 vehicles.

According to statistics, 45 million passengers used taxis in Sharjah city in 2010.