Sharjah Transport honours 100 bus, taxi drivers

Sharjah Transport, in a bid to promote the culture of safe and convenient driving, honoured 100 bus and taxi drivers on Sunday for showing dedication, honesty and outstanding performance.

Abdullah Al Zari honours one of the drivers at a function in Sharjah on Sunday.

The list of honorees, affiliated to four franchise cab companies — Sharjah, Emirates, Union, and Citi — as well as public buses, included 51 excellent and honest drivers, 12 with a high record of white points and four super stars with zero traffic violations for five straight years.

Director General of Sharjah Transport, Abdullah Al Zari said the ‘reward and encouragement policy’ adopted in his corporation is a main reason that helped hone drivers’ skills and improve their communication with the public.

“The Shukran (Thank You) programme launched in 2011 makes drivers with good behaviour eligible for annual financial rewards of up to Dh100,000. They can also replace the black points imposed against traffic violations with white ones.”

“Our quality controllers have registered 889 positive acts from tens of our taxi and bus drivers who were awarded Dh16,780 in total as well as more than 3,641 white points,” he added.

The honouring ceremony, held as part of the corporation’s third annual forum, helps promote drivers’ good conduct, curb traffic violations and complaints, and boost customer satisfaction.

“Special honour was given this year to honest cabbies who willingly returned various valuables and different amounts of cash of up to Dh300,000 and to their owners last year.”

Saeed Abdullah, Head of Corporate Communication at Sharjah Transport, said drivers go through training courses on a regular basis. “A significant drop of 35 per cent in drivers’ violations has been recorded in 2011 as compared to 2010,” he said, adding that more training courses would be introduced soon.

In view of quality controllers’ reports, drivers are rewarded for example, for helping passengers with their bags, decent behaviour, looking neat and clean, and giving priority to pedestrians.

“Keeping the vehicle clean and smelling nice, as well as any other behaviour that reflects positively is rewarded,” he said.

Explaining, Abdullah said the training courses, held on a regular basis, include theoretical and practical aspects to help drivers observe safe driving, produce a new generation of drivers more aware of road hazards, and clump down traffic accidents and their dreadful impact on the society.

“Sharjah Transport has honoured 760 drivers in its three annual forums for showing outstanding compliance with rules and clearing regular performance tests,” he added, noting that staff quality controllers are closely monitoring the performance of staff cabbies driving a big fleet of 4,600 taxies, and 224 public buses.

ahmedshaaban@khaleejtimes.com