Shorter wait for taxis in Dubai

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By Faisal Masudi, Staff Reporter  www.gulfnews.com

Dubai: Taxis booked by phone are arriving faster in Dubai even as demand rises rapidly, new figures suggest.

     Image Credit: RTA     The RTA taxi dispatch call centre in Dubai. It now takes about 13 minutes on average for taxis to reach customers, about two minutes less than last year.
Image Credit: RTA The RTA taxi dispatch call centre in Dubai. It now takes about 13 minutes on average for taxis to reach customers, about two minutes less than last year.

It takes about 13 minutes on average for taxis to reach customers — around two minutes less than last year’s average wait, said the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).

The shorter wait — despite more calls to dispatch — is partly because of Hala Taxi, a dedicated service for bookings made by phone, said a senior RTA official.

The reserved fleet has now more than doubled its size to 450 taxis, from 155 taxis when it was launched in late 2013.

The bigger fleet helped in responding to callers. The number of bookings by phone jumped 17 per cent in the first half of this year to 2,598, 261, compared with the same period last year.

Customer satisfaction also seems to be increasing, with officials reporting a significant drop in complaints in the first half of this year. More info