300 taxis to aid integration of public transport system

Dubai: Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC) at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced its readiness for the Dubai Metro era by deploying 300 vehicles to enhance the integration with various transport modes as part of a comprehensive plan to be carried out in several phases.

Abdul Aziz Malek, CEO of Dubai Taxi Corporation, said that taxis would be integrated with all other public transport modes in Dubai such as buses, waterborne transport and the Dubai Metro.

When constructing the infrastructure of Dubai the RTA allocated special parking spaces for taxis.

"DTC will link the locations of Dubai Metro stations with GPS and add it to the electronic chart of [the] booking and despatch system of RTA Public Transport Agency, and provide an SMS link with Dubai Metro Stations," Malek said.

Regarding DTC taxi drivers, Malek said: "Drivers of about 300 taxis have so far undergone field planning to acquaint them with the Metro stations, and practical training has been arranged [for] 1,531 drivers, as well as theoretical training for 3,935 drivers." He added that Metro location maps were also distributed to drivers well before the launch of the project.

"The current taxi fleet operating in the emirate of Dubai belongs to six franchise companies that include RTA Dubai Taxi Corporation, National Taxi, Cars Taxi, Metro Taxi, Arabia Taxi, and City Taxi ... DTC fleet comprises 3,503 vehicles deployed to deliver a number of service categories such as district taxi, airport taxi ... ladies' taxi and special-needs taxi in addition to ordinary taxis. More than 7,000 cabdrivers are deployed to deliver taxi services 24 hours a day on shift basis.

"Dubai Metro, like other leading rail systems worldwide, will focus on enriching the passengers' travels through providing value-added services to customers, where passengers can enjoy a full range of entertainment packages designed to meet their requirements in transit - which ultimately leads to a happy and enjoyable travelling experience."

He said taxis will be run on a demand-based, flexible system.