Sharjah cabbie gets reward for honesty

Sharjah Transport recently honoured a Pakistani cabbie of Citi Taxi Company for returning $6,400, precious jewels and two American passports a passenger had left behind in the vehicle.

Arhama Al Shamsi, Assistant Director-General of corporation, told Khaleej Times on Wednesday that the cabbie, identified as Babil Mondal Atiar, discovered a briefcase with jewels worth Dh35,000 in the cab boot a week ago. The honest driver, who was honoured, handed over the bag he found to his company right away.

“The woman passenger, identified as Lol Harsi, took the taxi from Sharjah City Centre to Al Majarah area,” Al Shamsi said.

The African passenger contacted the Call Centre of Sharjah Transport at (600525252) and reported the lost items. “The details the woman gave — the fare, trip time and destination — were helpful enough in identifying the said taxi.”

Commuters are advised to pay attention to the colour of the taxi and driver’s uniform as every company has a distinct colour. “They should also keep the receipt of the tariff to better identify the taxi and find the items lost in a short time.”

Honouring the honest cabbie with a cash prize, valuable gifts and an appreciation certificate, Al Shamsi said Sharjah Transport, set to encourage drivers’ good conduct, curb traffic violations and complaints, and boost customer satisfaction, has adopted an incentive scheme worth Dh100,000.

As per the Shukran (Thanks) programme, the drivers of the four franchise companies operating in the city are rewarded financially and in kind for behaving well. They may also replace the black points imposed for traffic violations with white ones. “With the Dh100,000 specified for honouring better performing drivers, we want to provide the best of the best services to our customers and passengers whose number climbed to 55 million in 2012.”

Sharjah Transport has honoured 860 drivers since 2010 in three annual forums for their honesty and outstanding performance.

Earlier this year, the corporation honored four Pakistani cabbies of Citi Taxi and Emirates Cab for honestly returning Dh172,000 in total, important documents and precious items passengers had left behind.

“Those are added to four others belonging to different companies who honestly returned around Dh600,000 and important documents to their owners.”

Sharjah Transport is running a fleet of 4,800 taxis operated by four franchise companies, apart from 224 public buses — MCV and King Long — driven by 12,064 drivers.

ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com