Abu Dhabi taxi operator receives 1,113 complaints about cabbies

TransAD said the majority of these involved drivers’ ignorance of addresses, taking indirect routes to destinations, improper behaviour with customers or disrupting traffic flow by stopping suddenly.

The majority of the complaints involved drivers’ ignorance of addresses, taking indirect routes to destinations, improper behaviour with customers or disrupting traffic flow by stopping suddenly. Sammy Dallal / The NationalShow less

ABU DHABI // More than a thousand complaints were made to the taxi regulator about cab drivers in April.

TransAD said the majority of the 1,113 complaints involved drivers’ ignorance of addresses, taking indirect routes to destinations, improper behaviour with customers or disrupting traffic flow by stopping suddenly.

TransAD director general, Mohammed Al Qamzi, said that as there were 5.5 million taxi journeys during April, the number of complaints was low.

During an interview with Al Ittihad, the Arabic-language sister newspaper of The National, Mr Al Qamzi said the number of offences by taxi drivers fell by 700 in April compared with the same month last year.

This was because of the introduction of monitoring procedures and mechanisms, he said. The company also has systems in place to receive complaints and process them within 48 hours.

Mr Al Qamzi said TransAD also uses “secret shoppers” to assess drivers’ performances and to detect any issues.

More than 60 undercover journeys are undertaken each week, which are then analysed at the company’s offices.