Dubai Taxi hits one billion riders in 25 years

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RTA reports 682 million journeys since 1995.

More than one billion passengers have been lifted by the Dubai taxis in the last 25 years, the Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has revealed. A total of 682 million journeys were recorded by the service since its inception in 1995 to December 2019.

Mattar Mohammed Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the board of executive directors of the RTA, said the taxi fleet recorded an exponential growth from 81 to 5,201 vehicles and the number of drivers equally increased from 886 to 11,500 drivers. The number of staff also jumped from 23 to 1,131 employees, and the taxi services escalated from a single service to 13 services during the period.

Al Tayer made these remarks during a recent visit to Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC) where he met with staff members in the presence of Abdul Mohsen Ibrahim Younes, CEO of Rail Agency and head of DTC supervisory board; Dr Yousef Al Ali, CEO of DTC; and several directors of RTA and DTC.

Al Tayer was briefed on artificial intelligence (AI) implementations in improving taxi services. DTC uses AI to strike a balance between supply and demand for the taxi service, analyse trip details, and direct the fleet to demand hotspots. AI is also used to improve safe driving practices through monitoring the conduct of drivers and verifying their compliance with safe driving standards.

Al Tayer also reviewed the latest update of the DTC smart app, which covers regular taxis, limo service, electric limo and Amira limo. The app has reduced the average time of dispatching taxis to clients to 6.5 minutes, besides offering an array of taxi services like DTC My Driver (sending a driver), In Safe Hands, Amira, and People of Determination taxi services.

He was also briefed on the automation of taxi services at Terminal 3 of Dubai Airport aimed at increasing the number of taxis in operation, streamlining the dispatch of taxis, and slashing the waiting time from 11 to 5 minutes. The project opens new channels for booking taxis at the time of buying a ticket or via screens on aircraft seats, DTC app or smart devices at the airport concourse.