Dubai: The Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC) of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) made over 46,500,000 trips last year, achieving around 97 per cent operational efficiency, the RTA said.

DTC cabs carried more than 81,000,000 passengers last year, which is 11 per cent more than the rate in 2013, latest figures also show.

Ammar Al Buraiki, Acting Director, Fleet Operations, DTC, said: “The organisational units of the department stand ready to respond to the daily needs of the fleet in terms of repair, maintenance, and cleaning of affiliated taxicabs. The Dubai Taxi fleet comprises 4,254 cabs deployed under several brands, namely Airport Taxi, Hatta Taxi, Ladies Taxi, Commission Taxi, Hala Taxi and VIP taxi.”

He added: “The maintenance and fleet services section is doing what it takes to improve the level of service as well as the appearance of taxicabs; which ultimately contributes to raising customers’ satisfaction rating. The cleaning operations include cleaning about 600 taxicabs per month besides the daily washing of more than 3,650 vehicles.”

About 99.8 per cent of total maintenance operations were carried out last year, and 89.4 per cent of accidents were repaired. However, the RTA did not mention the number of accidents.

The department has also been deploying more VIP taxis under the theme ‘New Dimension of Transport Luxury’; bringing the number of VIP taxis to as much as 105 black vehicles.

It has also opened Jebel Ali Taxi Operation Station to slash the waiting time of customers requesting taxis in new Dubai communities.

“The operations control centre has been set up to act a communication link with various organisational units of the DTC and help provide instant tracking of taxicabs of the fleet,” Al Buraiki added.

“The DTC has also run the BBS project; an electronic system considered the first of its kind in the region enabling the tracking of vehicles and drivers without involving human intervention; which contributes to raising the operational efficiency of the fleet, and generating more revenues for the DTC.”