Dubai: A French car-sharing technology provider said it has attracted interest from potential partners to introduce the service in Dubai.
Georges Gallais, of Vulog Carsharing Technologies, told Gulf News that car-sharing “will work in Dubai” with an initial fleet of some 2,000 cars.
His comments came on the sidelines of the Mena Transport Congress and Exhibition in Dubai, which ends on Wednesday.
Car-sharing is a relatively new and trending service where registered users book the nearest available participating car using a smart app, use a computer-generated security code to get in, drive it around anywhere before parking it within a zone of allowed operation.
“Many potential operators are interested, including, in a regulatory sense, the Roads and Transport Authority. The authorities here are very aware of what’s happening in the world and the young people are very clever in using their options of getting around,” Gallais said.
The car-sharer pays per minute (or hourly or daily rates) using his or her credit card registered with the operator. A popular car-sharing scheme in Vancouver, Canada charges around $0.41 (around Dh1.19) per minute.
Users go through detailed screening and background checks before being allowed to drive the cars, provided by a service operator, Gallais said.
“Here you have a lot of taxi companies; the metro is pretty full; there are many cars on the road. Say you’re at some event and want to go a friend’s house. You weigh your options and feel like driving — just book the nearest available car and drive it to Abu Dhabi or anywhere. Because you’re getting charged per minute, you will bring it back to the zone of operation in Dubai when you’re done.”
Operators normally also take a security deposit to encourage compliance with the rules. Anti-theft and car-tracking technology is built into the cars. Users can also be blacklisted for breaking rules.
“If car-sharing comes to Dubai, regulation will be good. Regulation is a good thing,” he added.
