Dubai taxi at your doorstep in 13 minutes

The Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC) has added 295 new vehicles to its Hala Taxi fleet of 155 cars to meet the booking requests of its dispatch centre.

The move comes in conjunction with the directive by the Public Transportation Authority of the RTA, which aims to increase the number of taxis on the city roads to meet high demand.

Engineer Ahmed Khalfan Al Suwaidi, CEO of DTC, said: “With the introduction of the new fleet, DTC will now raise its fleet to 4,249 vehicles or 48 per cent of the market share, striving towards meeting demand and boosting our service.”

Talking further about the fleet, Al Suwaidi stated: “Earlier, the Hala Taxi service could be utilised via street pick up and dispatch. Now this service is dedicated to dispatch only.

“We are moving towards a smart society, adapting technologies, be it smart apps or calls. Rather than people standing in the streets waiting to hail one, we are meeting the evolution of new Dubai with more robust services.”

Fifty per cent of the new fleet with comprise vans to “ensure these accommodate airport drop offs and large families,” he added.

The RTA revealed the pickup time for Hala Taxis in May 2014 averaged 13.24 minutes from the time the call was received at dispatch, dropping from the 14.80 minute average in 2013 over the same period.

Dr Yousif Al Ali, CEO of PTA, revealed the total number of taxis on the roads of the Emirate will now increase to 9,447 with the introduction of the new fleet of Hala Taxis, “bringing this average down even further to the satisfaction of our customers.”

Drop in complaints

The RTA further revealed that before the introduction of Hala Taxis in January 2013, the number of complaints recorded in the month peaked at 281, dropping down by 66.9 per cent to 93 in 2014, over the same period.

The trend continued over the first five months of this year, compared to the same period last year, with February 2013 recording 288 complaints, which dropped to 120; March 2013 saw the number peak at 292, which dropped nearly 50 per cent to 144 this year.

Meanwhile, April and May recorded the biggest drop in complaints, with the former dropping to 92 complaints over 259 the previous year; last month, the complaints dropped by 71 per cent from 237 in 2013 to 69 in 2014.

Dr Ali added: “The total number of complaints over the first five months of last year totalled 1,357, which have dropped to 518 in 2014, with a significant drop of nearly 62 per cent.”

Dr Ali stated he was positive this average would drop even further as the RTA was seeking approval to release another batch of cars by 2015 to meet the burgeoning demand.

He continued: “The Hala Taxi project has proved successful since its initial roll out, with our total number of accepted job going from 110,687 in December 2013 to 467,021 in May 2014, thus increasing by six per cent from last year’s 74 per cent.

“The revenue per kilometre has also jumped from 47.29 per cent in December 2013 to May’s 50.27 per cent in 2014.”

Hala Taxis are distinguished by its black and grey colours and the service is available 24-hours.

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