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55 more RTA services to fit in your palm

The Roads and Transports Authority (RTA) will beef up the number of services offered on smart phones, more than quadrupling the available services by 2014.

As of now, there are 17 existing services and 55 more services will be launched by 2014 taking the total number of services offered by the RTA to 72. The drive is set to gather pace to further broaden the service outreach in the first half of 2015. The move comes in implementation of the initiative launched by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, setting the path for migration from eGovernment to mGovernment in order to make government services accessible via mobile phones 24X7 throughout the year.

Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of the RTA, said: “The RTA currently provides 17 services compatible with the most common operating systems (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows) highlighted by services oriented to public transport users such as the booking of taxis, inquiring about the balance of Nol cards, arrival time of buses and Dubai Metro, calculating the fare, displaying the locations of metro stations, bus stops, refuelling stations, tourist points, hospitals and medical centres. Services targeting road users include the payment of parking fees (mParking), inquiring about traffic offences, online and open auction plates, and the possibility of replacing driver licences, in addition to displaying the locations of RTA customer service centres, and accessing Madinati service enabling customers to file reports and attach images along with the geo-ordinates of the site in question,” explained Al Tayer.

Also, this month the RTA will launch the eWallet service offering companies and entities a safe means of payment and an easy-to-use tool for processing transactions related to the Licensing Agency such as the renewal of vehicle registration and payment of traffic fines.

He added: “Services provided by the RTA through smart phones are set to pick up substantially in the near future with as many as 55 services in the making; including nine services this year and 46 services as early as next year, to bring the total number of mobile services to 72 services. The RTA will conduct a thorough study of all its services, comprising 208 services of which 156 services are currently available online, in order to analyse them and explore the possibility of providing them via mobile phones whether partially or fully. It will also review the best global practices in order to develop creative services that can be offered via smart phones. The selection of services is based on a number of parameters, including that the service has to be provided online and it has to be procedural, interactive and informational.

However, the eWallet can be set up by submitting an application for opening an account in the RTA through electronic and manual means, and the customer will then deposit a certain amount in RTA account via bank transfer. Accordingly, the customer can use this eWallet to pay for fees and offences; which will pave the way for processing the required licensing transaction.

By launching the eWallet, there will be no need for companies to dispatch representatives to RTA customer service centres to processes routine transactions since all services they need will be available online round-the-clock.

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