UAE: RTA to trial new taxi-sharing service between Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Through this initiative, passengers shall be able to minimize their traveling expenses by up to 75%
Raed Al Mughni, RTA spokesperson, explained that a new taxi-sharing pilot service between the emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi was launched on Monday in an initiative which will help passengers to cut travel expenditures by as much as 75%.
The new service, which enables sharing of a taxi among multiple customers in the same area, will run for six months and be scaled to other areas depending on the results, added RTA.
It will be possible for passengers to share rides between Ibn Bettota center in Dubai and Al Wahda center located in Abu Dhabi.
“This initiative is focused on the reduction of travel fare for commuters who are quite regular in between the two emirates, Dubai and adjacent Abu Dhabi. In addition, both sites are conveniently linked to public transport and parking areas,” pointed out Shakri, the director of planning and business development at the UK headquartered public Transport agency in Dubai Roads and transport authority.
Adel added: “the initiative would mainly benefit passengers by decreasing the costs of having to travel between the two emirates with four passengers sharing a taxi reducing the traveling costs to 75%”.
According to the company's official, the trial service will allow each passenger to pay a fee of Dh66 during the shared ride instead of the full cost. Commuters can pay the fare using their bank cards or using Nol cards.
When two passengers share a ride, for instance, the fare will amount to Dh132 per customer while Dh88 for when three individuals travel in one taxi.
“A problem of RTA in this respect is traffic congestion, improving taxi services and in this initiative it promotes the use of multiple passengers in one taxi so reducing carbon emissions and illegal taxi services,” the authority said.
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