Dubai: From looking for a parking spot to applying for a distinguished number plate or getting vehicle registration renewed, a bulk of the services offered by the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) are virtually a click away.

RTA has become one of the first government entities in Dubai to declare the transition of all its applicable services into smart apps.

“I am pleased to announce that the RTA has completed the transformation of all customer services into smart services that are both creative and user-friendly,” Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of RTA, said.

With the help of nine mobile apps, RTA offers 173 services that can help people complete their transactions with a tap on the phone.

The apps, available on all smart phone platforms, are Smart Drive, Wojhati, Smart Salik, Smart Parking, Smart Taxi, Drivers and Vehicles, Public Transport, Corporate Services and RTA Dubai.

Al Tayer stated that through these apps, the RTA is seeking to shape Dubai into the smartest city in the world in terms of roads and transport systems.

The transition helps people top up Nol and Salik accounts through mobile, pay their traffic fines, renew their driving licences and apply for seasonal parking cards without having to visit RTA customer service centres.

“The accomplishment of this vital project is a practical implementation of the initiative of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to transform Dubai into the smartest city of the world within three years,” said Al Tayer.

He added that RTA’s efforts reflect the directives of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of the Executive Council, who is overseeing the Smart City initiative.

“The Smart City concept envisions high priority to the welfare and convenience of residents, and the delivery of state-of-the-art services, including the smart mobility, a key pillar of smart cities,” said Al Tayer.

He added that transport and mobility covers at least 25 to 30 per cent of the city’s transition towards smart government and RTA attaches great importance to the happiness and convenience of people with each of its services.

RTA has implemented the Happiness Meter on its website and customer service centres. The new system to gauge the level of customer satisfaction at all government departments, was launched last week by Shaikh Mohammad.

“The Happiness Meter will soon be available on all RTA apps, however, we already have our own feedback system on our website and apps that helps us find the quality of services,” said Abdullah Al Bastaki, Director of IT and Head of Smart Services Development Team, RTA.

Among the 173 services, 83 serve to road users, 31 services cater to public transport users and 59 services support the business sector.

Interestingly, most of the services and applications were designed and developed with the support of local university students.

Of the nine apps, Smart Drive is the most popular application with around 1 million downloads, while the rest of the apps together have registered 1 million downloads in the last couple of years.

Since 2013, customers have used RTA smart applications to make transactions worth Dh260,000 .

According to RTA, the apps have achieved the rating of 4.3 out of 5.

Between October 2014 and March 2015, more than 13 million parking e-tickets were issued via SMS

To encourage people to use the smart channels RTA launched green points system which will reward people on completing transactions through mobile.

“When a person completes or conducts any transaction without going to the RTA’s customer service center, by using various channels like mobile, online, call center etc. the person will get points on his account, which will translate into rewards which will be implemented in the near future,” said Al Bastaki.

For every transaction with RTA, a customer will earn 36 points and every kilometre travelled on public transport will translate into one point.

“The Idea is to discourage customers from visiting customer care centres and thereby reducing carbon footprint,” added Al Bastaki.

The package of smart services comes as deadline of transition to smart government approaches.

Shaikh Mohammad launched the Smart Government initiative in May 2013, giving all the government entities time until end of May 2015 complete the transition.