The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) on Monday introduced taxi stand (rank) numbers, modelled on the Singapore taxi service system, for different locations. The passenger could send an SMS to the toll-free number 4774 mentioning the number of the taxi stand where he or she is waiting, said Abdul Aziz Malik, CEO of Dubai Taxi.

The majority of taxi drivers now find it difficult to track down the locations of the passengers, ultimately resulting in long and frustrating waiting.

Malik explained the ‘taxi ranks’: The authority has given rank numbers to 54 locations or taxi stands in various congested areas of the emirate; every stand will have an area code. A passenger waiting for a cab in a particular stand will have to SMS to 4774 the area code, which would be mentioned on the boards installed at each stand. “The passenger would receive an acknowledgement message from the RTA and a taxi would pick the passenger up from the exact spot within minutes.

For instance, Rank No. 1 stands for Century Mall in Al Mamzar, 2 for Al Hamriya Shopping Centre in Hor Al Anz East, and 3 for Abu Hail Centre in Hor Al Anz East.

Altogether, 54 areas have been earmarked as taxi stands in the emirate. Each stand will have an information board listing the rank numbers and respective areas, the SMS number and the toll-free booking numbers of all taxi companies operating in the emirate.

“If a passenger does not find a cab at any of the stands, he/she can also call up any of the dispatch centres of any taxi company and give the rank number to the customer service agent.

“The RTA will track the nearest taxi and give the driver the message. The GPS meter system in the taxis will have the information about all rank numbers and the locations. The driver will not have to search for a particular location and could reach the exact spot easily,” Malik said.

This would drastically reduce the waiting time for the passengers,  Essa Al Dossari, CEO of the Public Transport Agency, said.

“The people will be informed about the rank numbers and locations through media campaigns. This is just Phase -1 and the next phase will see more areas included.

“There is no fixed number of taxis for each rank. The driver, who is the nearest, would be contacted and asked to go to the particular stand. Taxis would also be waiting for passengers at some stands like in the shopping malls, hotels etc,” he said.

New taxi booking system hailed

DUBAI — Anuj Narayan, a resident of Dubai, welcomed the new SMS taxi booking system.

"I had not got taxis even after booking them over the phone on several occasions. This system can help mitigate the current situation. Moreover, with five dispatch numbers in place, people can now heave a sigh of relief," he said.

Shaukat Alam, another Dubai resident, said, "The system sounds good, but some areas are very large. How will a person reach any of the taxi stands in the area? The RTA must now increase the number of taxi stands from where passengers could board. The big areas should have more stands."

"Many taxi drivers don’t attend to the messages. Some don’t go to the passengers even after receiving the messages. The RTA should end this practice. Introduction of more dispatch numbers is welcome. With only one number earlier, people had to wait for a long time to get through the number," said Shayantani Shankar, who lives in Bur Dubai.

FOR A SMOOTH RIDE

54 taxi ranks in different locations of the emirate; the number to increase in a later phase

These taxi stands are in congested areas where finding a taxi is very difficult

Passenger can SMS the rank number to 4774 after which he/she will get a notification and a taxi will reach the stand shortly

 The number of the existing dispatch system 04-2080808

The numbers of four new dispatch centres: 800-272242 for Arabia Taxi, 600-543322 for National Taxi, 800-227789 for Cars Taxi, and 600-566000 for Metro Taxi

Dubai Taxi has 3,906 taxis in its fleet; the total number of cabs with the other four franchise companies is around 7,000

1,200 more taxis on Dubai roads by year-end; another 1,000 by 2009

joy@khaleejtimes.com