More than 11 thousand taxis in Dubai will be equipped with CCTV cameras in the near future.
Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced that all taxis in the city will be equipped with CCTV cameras by October this year.
There are more than 11 thousand taxis in Dubai, and almost 9 thousand of them are installed as a security measure.
Recorded materials are stored on a DVR device installed in a taxi. A smart centralized system will soon be deployed to monitor what is happening in all taxis in real time.
Muhammad Nabhan, Director of Transport Monitoring at RTA, said: “With these cameras, RTA can monitor taxi drivers and verify their compliance with professional driving standards and moral standards.”
About 277.9 million people used public transportation in Dubai in the first half of 2018. Taxis account for 31.6% - this is the second largest indicator after the subway (37.2%).
Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC) owns 5.2 thousand taxis from 11.3 thousand emirate cars. In addition to DTC, there are five other companies in Dubai. In DTC, there are 10.9 thousand taxi drivers.
The most common taxi complaints from customers include employee misconduct, refusal to serve passengers, and changing routes to increase payment.
Thanks to the monitoring system, the number of complaints decreased in the first half of the year compared with the first half of 2017. For example, the number of complaints about the refusal of a trip decreased by 55 percent.
"When customers have complaints, they can call our service center at 8009090," Muhammad Nabhan recalls.
"We process complaints by checking the taxi driver. In the transport monitoring department, we have a department that deals with all complaints. We inform the client about the results of the investigation. The complaint must be resolved within three days after receiving it," he added.
