Abu Dhabi taxis to be equipped with GPS

People will be able to book taxis more easily as dispatchers are equipped with GPS systems to track drivers.

The new silver taxis operating in Abu Dhabi will be linked to a central call centre.

ABU DHABI // People will soon be able to book taxis more easily as dispatchers are equipped with GPS systems that allow them to track drivers. Initially, fewer than 100 taxis will take part in the pilot project involving the new system, which will allow dispatchers at a call centre to guide drivers to customers who have called for taxis.

Quentin Fulljames-Curtis, the taxi and limousine adviser for the Centre for Regulation of Transport by Hire Cars (TransAD), added that the system would first be tried only in several outlying areas, and not in the city centre. "I know that's where everybody wants it, but we have to ensure it is stable in those areas before we bring it to the city centre." For Dh2.50 (US$0.68) during the day, and Dh3 at night, passengers could be picked up by the nearest available cab, once the long-awaited system is operational.

TransAD is to meet with Etisalat today, five months after the regulator announced plans for the system, to determine in which areas connection could be provided for the launch, Mr Fulljames-Curtis said. More details, including a start date, would be available in the coming weeks. While the new tracking device will direct drivers to passengers, it will also allow TransAD to follow their movements on a digital map. More than 600 taxis are already equipped with the GPS system technology but the network has not been activated yet.

In May, TransAD said it could not commit to a timeline for rolling out the system because it was waiting on Etisalat. However, the two sides had since worked together to develop the system in a couple of regions, Mr Fulljames-Curtis said. Taxi customers said they would be grateful for the call centre. "It is very difficult to find a taxi, even in the summer," said Nahid, a Sudanese woman who was trying to hail passing drivers from the shade of a tree on Airport Road.

About 2,500 of the new silver taxis have been introduced by the city's seven taxi franchisees so far, Mr Fulljames-Curtis said. TransAD phased out about 800 of the older gold and white taxis but had slowed that roll-out during the summer months. TransAD launched the new taxis in November 2007. The seven companies were chosen to operate equal portions of the fleet, with each company responsible for recruiting and training drivers.

The new system was an attempt to answer concerns about the low quality of service in the older taxis, and is part of a broader plan to revamp public transport in the capital, in keeping with Abu Dhabi Plan 2030. Fares, starting at Dh2.60 for a standard silver taxi, plus 65 fils per kilometre, are frozen until at least November. TransAD opted to set fares low when the silver taxis were launched, both to ensure their competitiveness with older taxis and to guarantee affordable transport for residents until the city's public transportation network is established.

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