Customers bemoan lack of cabs in Abu Dhabi

Commuters angry over waiting for up to an hour and being late for work.

Commuters in Abu Dhabi say they have to endure long waits before they can get a taxi. Jaime Puebla / The National

ABU DHABI // Commuters in the capital are complaining that there is a severe shortage of taxis.

Waiting in long queues at designated stops, being unable to book a taxi or having to give up the wait and walk home are some of the problems people are facing.

One of these commuters is Rowena Deodato, 30, a Filipina who works as a sales associate at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi.

Ms Deodato, who is eight months pregnant, usually takes a taxi from her home in Khalidiya Street to Lifeline Hospital on the junction of Electra and Muroor, where she catches a bus to Yas Island.

On Monday morning, she said, she had to wait for 30 minutes to catch a cab.

“I’m going to be late for work again.”

On Sunday, while the Formula One race was taking place at Yas Marina Circuit, she said it was almost impossible to find a taxi.

“I think most of the taxis were at the island,” she said.

Ajeesh Alphonso, 37, an Indian who works at a hotel in Abu Dhabi, shared Ms Deodato’s frustration about the lack of taxis in the city.

He and four others were waiting for taxis near Noor Bank on Khalidiya Street.

“Generally it’s not easy to get a taxi between 8am and 9am every day,” he said. “I’ve been waiting since 7.55am and it’s now 8.45am.

“So many people were here before 8am – about 10 to 15 – waiting for a taxi,” Mr Alphonso says. “They decided to take the bus instead.”

He suggested increasing the number of taxis to serve residents in the Khalidiya area. “The shortage is everywhere but I think it’s worse here,” he said.

Addrin Correya, 30, his wife Steffy, 28, and their five-month-old daughter Alonia had to endure a 30-minute wait at a taxi stand on Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak Street (formerly Najda Street) on Monday.

“I’ve tried booking a taxi for two to three times this week but I couldn’t get through. It’s always busy,” said Mr Correya, from India.

Rheesma Limbu, 36, a driver for Al Ghazal Taxi, said the shortage in the morning could be because cabbies are required to have their cars washed at 6am, which can take about three to four hours because of long queues.

“Also drivers are allowed to stay at home after they reach their target,” he said. “In our case, it’s on the 23rd of each month, while other taxi companies set it at the end of the month.”

Customers can book taxis on 600 53 53 53 from the call centre of the Centre for Regulation of Transport for Hire Cars (TransAD).

Booked taxis are expected to arrive within seven minutes. When TransAD launched the call service in November 2008, a year after the silver taxis took to the streets, the response time was about nine minutes.

In June, TransAD announced that six franchise companies were recruiting at least 2,000 taxi drivers this year.

Franchise companies are required to run at least 40 per cent of their taxis over two shifts each day to respond to the growing demand for services in the emirate.

Officially, there are 7,147 taxis in the emirate operated by Cars Taxi, Al Ghazal Taxi, Arabia Taxi, Emirates Taxi, National Taxi, and Tawasul, and 220 airport taxi Mercedes vans and Toyota Camry cabs operated by Emirates Transport.

A fleet of 270 new taxis is set to go into service in Abu Dhabi city in next February as “part of TransAD’s efforts to provide integrated transport services that fulfil the needs of all members of society”, Mohammed Darwish Al Qamzi, TransAD’s general manager said last month.

TransAD did not respond to requests for comment.