RTA sacks two taxi drivers

DUBAI -The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has terminated the services of two taxi drivers following their negative and unprofessional attitude towards passengers.

By Joy Sengupta (Staff Reporter)

Published: Tue 25 Mar 2008, 7:59 PM

Last updated: Wed 12 Jul 2023, 3:46 PM

The action was initiated during a 10-day intensive inspection and monitoring campaign that was organised after a steep rise in the number of complaints against taxi drivers in the emirate.

The campaign started on March 1.

Of late, there have been several complaints about the taxi drivers refusing to pick up passengers.

According to the passengers, the drivers do not want to go to places like Deira and Bur Dubai, which are crowded most of the time.

There have been many cases when a taxi driver had abused and misbehaved with a passenger who wanted to go to Sharjah. Many a time, the drivers tend to give excuses when a passenger requests them to drive to the areas where the traffic is slow.

Essa Al Dossari, CEO of the Public Transport Agency, said the campaign had brought fruitful results.

“As many as 80 male and female employees of the agency took part in the campaign. The first three days of the campaign saw 46 offences related to the refusal to lift passengers. The figure dropped to just 12 offences in the last three days. The participants have done a good job to work hard and report the offences and immediate actions have been taken,” he said.

The official explained that the field team managed to report and issue 276 violation tickets in connection with refusal to lift passengers and 723 other violations.

The RTA added that the passengers too needed to be aware about some genuine circumstances owing to which the taxi drivers decline to ferry passengers.

“We would be launching some awareness campaigns in the near future with the aim of spreading awareness of the nature of job of drivers and highlight the cases and circumstances where the driver would not be able to stop and pick up passengers. Also, the RTA would continue with its inspections in order to put an end to the unprofessional attitude of refusing passengers,” added Al Dossari.

The RTA has recently announced that it would provide comprehensive training guide prepared by an elite panel of experts to the taxi drivers in a bid to improve the taxi services.

The RTA, in a recent meeting with three major taxi companies, had stated that with the number of complaints about refusal to take passengers and ill-treatment by drivers increasing, proper training of the cab drivers was very essential.

The officials had said that the guide would be ready in three months.