UAE | Traffic and Transport
Taxi stations 'will cut response time'
Dubai taxis will be stationed in different localities - especially in newly-developed areas, to provide a prompt service to residents.
- By Ashfaq Ahmed, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 October 10, 2006
- Ammar Bin Tamim, Director of the Dubai Taxi Department at the Roads and Transport Authority, says the new steps will help reduce the response time of pre-booked taxis from the current 12 minutes to just five minutes.
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
Dubai: Dubai taxis will be stationed in different localities - especially in newly-developed areas, to provide a prompt service to residents.
"We are planning to have taxi lay-bys in at least 28 localities in the city to ensure a fast service for residents, especially those who book taxis using the telephone reservation service," said Ammar Bin Tamim, Director of the Dubai Taxi Department at the Roads and Transport Authority.
He said that taxis would be readily available in areas which have a high demand for pre-booked taxis. Some of these areas include the Springs, the Meadows, the Greens, Al Sufouh, Mirdiff, Jumeirah, Al Wasl and Garhoud.
Bin Tamim said the new steps would help reduce the response time of pre-booked taxis from the current 12 minutes to just five minutes.
"We are doing our best to meet the increasing demand for the pre-booked taxi service," he said.
All franchise taxis will be linked with a centralised satellite control centre by February to ensure quick delivery of pre-booked taxis.
Bin Tamim said around 3,200 taxis operated by the Public Transport Department at the RTA are linked with the centralised reservation system.
"With the installation of the satellite control system, more than 6,000 taxis from all franchise companies in Dubai will be linked to the reservation system," he said.
It means that all taxi companies will be able to provide a service to customers who book taxis over the telephone. Bin Tamim said the pre-booked service had witnessed a huge growth over the last few years.
"The satellite control system coupled with special taxi lay-bys in new areas will help serve residents better as taxis will be available in all areas at any given time," he said.
The taxi department has invested Dh25 million to develop and improve its reservation and distribution services, which include purchasing new database analysis systems and programs, entering digital maps across the UAE and upgrading them every six months. The RTA is also constructing a big taxi base in Al Quoz to split taxis between Deira and Bur Dubai.
"The new base will resolve a number of issues. All taxis will not have to be stationed in Al Ghusais, the existing headquarters. It will also ease the mobility of taxis from their base to different areas in the city," he said.
According to the latest RTA statistics the Reservation and Distribution Section at the Taxi Department received 205,352 phone calls during August, and a total of 121,217 reservations were made registering a significant increase.
Bin Tamim said that Al Sufouh had topped the list of areas with the highest requests for taxis in August with 30,512 reservations made, followed by Garhoud with 20,159 reservations, Mirdif with 10,875 and Umm Suqueim with 7,910 reservations.
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