Opinion | Editorials
Scrap the unfair taxi surcharge
There is no reason to charge customers an extra Dh20 for travelling between emirates
- Image Credit: Ahmed Ramzan, Gulf News
- Taxis on both sides are constantly lined up on the Sharjah-Dubai border near the Sahara Centre, Damascus Road and Beirut Road.
Dubai : Roads and Transport Authority must seriously reconsider its Dh20 surcharge imposed on taxi fares between the emirate and Sharjah.
By travelling straight through, passengers must pay an extra Dh20. Naturally, there's a reluctance to pay what most passengers believe is an unnecessary and impractical expense, an arbitrary surcharge imposed to inflate RTA coffers.
The ludicrous situation now exists where passengers order cabs to the Sahara Centre, which straddles both emirates. By walking the length of the building and incurring a five minute or so delay, passengers can change between Dubai and Sharjah taxis and avoid the Dh20 surcharge. And imagine the plight of a passenger who lands at Dubai airport, pays the Dh25 airport surcharge, crosses the border into Sharjah and pays a Dh20 surcharge as well, on top of what would be a Dh15 fare?
This unfair fare surcharge simply isn't working. It's about time it was scrapped.
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